Ecologist helping North American growers use their yards to help fight the climate crisis 🌻
How do you know what's native to your area? 🧐
Hi friend,I get asked a lot about how to figure out what species are native to your area. So I wanted to share resources for folks in the USA and Canada. I've updated this list to include more resources, as well as some Canada-specific resources for Canadian gardeners. 🌻 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 The National Wildlife Federation has an excellent tool called the Native Plant Finder. It shows you what native species support the most wildlife in your zip code - these are called “keystone” species. 🌻 🇺🇸 The NWF has another tool that tells you the best commercially available native host plant species based on your ecoregion. 🌻 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 BONAP’s North American Plant Atlas has a prolific database of range maps for species in the US and Canada listed by botanical name 🌻 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s website has a search tool where you can input your state or province, growing conditions, and other descriptors like bloom time, height, lifespan, etc., and search their database for plant species that meet your criteria. 🌻 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Most states and provinces have a Native Plant Society that should have resources specific to your area. You can find your local Native Plant Society here 🌻 🇺🇸 Wild Ones is another organization that advocates for native plants and has chapters in most US states. Find your local chapter here 🌻 🌎 iNaturalist can help you identify plants that you’re unsure of what they are. You can also browse what’s been seen in your area, check a species’ status as native or introduced, etc. 🌻 🇺🇸 The Audubon Society has a database of bird-friendly native plants based on zip code. 🌻 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 The Xerces Society has a resource of pollinator-friendly native plant lists for different regions across the US and Canada 🌻 🇨🇦 The Canadian Wildlife Federation has an online native plant encyclopedia tool 🌻 🇨🇦 The David Suzuki Foundation has lots of resources for planting native in Canada 🌻 🌎 If you’re plant shopping and not sure where a species is from, do a quick google of “(species name) native range.” Always use the botanical name because common names can apply to multiple species. I don’t recommend buying plants that aren’t labeled with the botanical name unless you’re 100% sure you know what it is. It can be most useful to cross-reference a couple of these resources to get the most accurate information. Hopefully you find this helpful! If you need more help with starting, managing, and/or improving your eco-garden, check out my offer - The Natural Gardener Workbook Bundle!
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Native Yardening
Ecologist helping North American growers use their yards to help fight the climate crisis 🌻
Hi friend, It’s a common misconception that you need to spend a lot of money to grow a native garden (or my preferred term, an eco-garden). In reality, it’s much cheaper than a traditional garden. Eco-gardening means applying sustainable and regenerative practices to your yard. This can look like using materials already on site, making your own compost, and relying on natural processes to do a lot of the work. It’s been a little over three years since I started transforming my yard. My front...
Hi friend, As I post more on social media about the problems caused by invasive plants, I realize how much misunderstanding there is around these issues. I always get a little discouraged when I see firsthand how misinformed the general public is about how nature works. But I also understand that it's a systemic issue. We aren't taught about these things. I recently made this post on Facebook and Instagram, showing a handful of common invasive species in North America. For some reason, people...
Hi friend, Did you know that one of the most invasive trees in the eastern half of the United States was introduced on purpose by the US government? That’s right, the smelly Callery pear and its man-made cultivar the ‘Bradford’ pear were both cultivated intentionally by the US Department of Agriculture. Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) is a tree that’s native to China and Vietnam and was first introduced to the US by the US Dept of Agriculture in 1916 to breed with the common European pear...