Go Native!

A well planted native habitat garden can attract habitat specific birds like Eastern Towhees and Field Sparrows that prefer to nest and winter in old fields and grassland edges rather than yard.

My two favorite books are Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy and How to Get Your Lawn off Grass by Carol Rubin. These are my favorite books because they talk about how lawns, exotic plants and invasive plants damage natural ecosystems and ultimately our environment. Lawns are sterile monocultures of cut grass that have little value for our local wildlife. Lawns are disturbed soils where exotic weeds like Eurasian Crabgrass and Bahia grass gets a foothold. In order to control dandelions, weedy grasses, unwanted saplings, landscaping companies and homeowners dump herbicides to control weeds. When insects like the Japanese beetle or European scarab damages or when fire ants move on to a recently mown lawn we run for the insecticide. According to toe Book Get Your Lawn Off Of Grass "A 25x40ft patch of manicured lawn uses about 10,000 gallons of water during a summer." Chemicals from lawns run off when you water your lawn or when a storm approaches. These chemicals runoff in to our storm drains, retention ponds, canals and eventually our creeks, rivers and oceans. This is where fragile ecosystems thrive and where our drinking water comes from. Lawns may be the landscaping equivalent to concrete and asphalt but landscapes dominated by exotic plants from other countries can cause just as much damage. Many exotic plants require chemicals to control pests since their natural predators don't exist in North America. Exotics from different regions such as tropical forests of South America and Asia require tons of water to keep it alive during a summer and even more work to preserve it during a harsh winter. Finally, some exotic plants from regions with a similar to ours can establish themselves in nature and take over native ecosystems. Some examples include privets, European buckthorn, kudzu and Japanese Honeysuckle. Some infestations are so bad that National Park Services and municipalities have to apply chemicals, fires or biological agents to control these pests and restore natural ecosystems.  Crape Myrtles, Asian Azaleas, Camellia and Gardenia are not invasive plants since they rarely reproduce and are suited to the North Carolina climates. However, newly imported plants often harbor exotic insects, weeds, and fungus without their natural predators. 

Wildlife 

• A property with just a lawn full of bluegrass or summer rye has almost no wildlife diversity.
•  A bluegrass or rye lawn with a few trees, native or exotic has more wildlife at a lower diversity.
• A yard lush with exotic shrubs and manicured hedges and flowerbeds is almost as sterile as a lawn.
• A native habitat patch will attract native birds, insects, reptiles and mammals due to the higher concentrations of fruits, prey and foliage.
• A yard lushly planted with native plants and water sources can support about same amount of wildlife as a native woodlot or grassland that is the same size as your yard  

 Solution

 Our lushly planted front yard garden with native and garden plants, pull up a chair and enjoy. 

In my opinion I think that our landscaping should be mostly or entirely native plants but I don't mind non invasive plants as long as they are mixed with some indigenous plants. For example, our backyard has a 50 year old Crape Myrtle, Camellias, exotic azaleas, and exotic bulbs and plants from my grandmother's garden. I grandfathered these plants in and used them in my landscape; however I completely removed all of the privet, and buckthorn, ivy, and honeysuckle and wisteria since these are noxious weeds. My mom's garden in the front yard contains both native and exotic plants and continues to provide good habitats for insects, birds and mammals. One of the best ways to add native plants to the garden is to use existing ornamental plants like azaleas and Crape Myrtles and under plant those with native sub canopy trees, ferns, wildflowers and canopy trees. In our yard, I under planted our native azaleas, woodland trees and shrubs as well as our existing or new exotics with native ferns and wildflowers. This will restore a section of the natural forest ecosystem and attract natural predators that protect the foreign garden treasures. Many insects, spiders and birds eat both garden and household pests, not to mention mosquitoes. A suburban or urban with exotic plants, manicured lawns treated with poisons will have a higher problem with pests. In addition, mammals, insects and weeds eventually become resistant or even immune to poisons, with all of the native predators and diseases dead or displaced the pest population mushroom. A yard with a few simple native plants or a full fledged habitat restoration project will still have native and exotic pests but the natural predators and competitors will help keep them in check. Example: the Asian tiger mosquito is a dangerous pest in the Southeastern United States because they spread yellow fever, canine heartworms, and West Nile virus though their bites. If a native meadow garden, a wetland garden or hedgerows of indigenous trees are added, birds, spiders, insects, and reptiles arrive due to the increased cover and the abundance of prey items. The mosquitoes become food items for birds, dragonflies and anole lizards, providing an effective control without chemicals. Native gardens don't have to be weedy fields, meadows or forests, but they can have the ornamental look while requiring little care. Our habitat has a manicured garden with both native and exotic plants in place of the lawn in the front yard. The backyard contains habitat gardens that grow wild but still look manicured. People can even grow native plants in flowerpots or raised beds if they don't have yard space. Most exotic plants are good for gardens and look great in gardens but people should include some natives as well. Avoid invasive plants such as English Ivy, privet, wisterias and Autumn Olive

Alternatives to Invasive Exotics

English Ivy- Virginia creeper, Muscadine Grape, Carolina Jessermine
Privets- Yaupon Holly, Highbush Blueberry, Carolina Cherrylaurel
Buckthorn- Southern Crabapple, Native Hawthorns, Carolina Rose
Chinese Wisteria- American Wisteria
Pampas Grass- Switch grass, Purple Love grass, Cattails
Tree of Heaven- Red Maple, Staghorn Sumac, Black Locust
Chinese tallow tree, Popcorn Tree- Elderberry, Southern Crabapple
Nandina- Beautyberry, Winterberry Holly, Inkberry