Native Plants Why They Are Needed And How To Select Them for YOUR Garden This is a shortened version of a presentation created by Hester Burch for the Score Four Students, Schools, Streams, and the Bay. Our thanks to Ms. Burch for her support in holding the first Score Four workshop for teachers in 2014. This presentation provides an understanding of how native plants benefit the environment, shows how to use a guide for selecting native plants, and provides beautiful pictures of gardens and plants. Adapted from a presentation developed by Master Gardener, Hester Burch, for the Score Four Students, Schools, Streams, and the Bay Program. Photos provided by Ms. Burch.

Native Plants are plants that have grown in a region historically Native Plants are plants that have grown in a region historically. They are adapted to the soil, climate, and water supply. They evolved in concert with the region’s other plants, animals, and insects. In short they are plants that are known to naturally occur in an area without human intervention from pre-European development. …many years (see above)… means thousands of years!

Why use native plants on your campus? They help improve water quality because they: Need less fertilizer. Need less pesticides. And because… I’ll be spending a lot of time during this presentation talking about native plants. So why should homeowners plant native plants? We can contribute to the problem or to the solution.

Why Plant Natives? …They have much bigger and deeper roots than grass and many non-native plants. How does this help improve water quality? Their roots: Improve soil porosity. Help prevent erosion. Absorb more runoff. I’ll be spending a lot of time during this presentation talking about native plants. So why should homeowners plant native plants? We can contribute to the problem or to the solution.

Another reason for native plants They benefit wildlife. Now I want to focus on another benefit of conservation gardening. The benefit to wildlife.

Insects depend on certain plants during different stages of their growth. Host Plants: the specific plants used by an insect or other organisms. Host plants are the plants that insect larva eat. This caterpillar will not eat just any old plant. Isn’t it exciting to know that when you plant native plants, you are providing food for wildlife? New York Ironweed Hester Burch

Monarch caterpillars ONLY eat plants in the milkweed family. 90% of our insects are specialists, meaning their larvae (caterpillars) can only eat one or a few families of plants. Some insects are highly selective. The Monarch is one of these. Monarch caterpillars eat exclusively plants in the milkweed family. *90% of our insects are specialists. Monarchs are knows to eat 30 species of milkweed. Hester Burch

The Common Milkweed used to be found around farm fields and in meadows throughout the eastern half of the United States. Today, there are far fewer milkweed plants, due to herbicide use and urbanization. Changes in milkweed abundance reflect the use of genetically modified, herbicide-tolerant corn and soybean crops and annual land-use changes. Hester Burch

Hester Burch

Sweetgum trees brighten fall days with their purple, yellow, and orange leaves. Hester Burch

Sweetgum leaves also feed this caterpillar Sweetgum leaves also feed this caterpillar. It might seem homely, but grows into a surprisingly beautiful moth. Hester Burch

The Luna Moth is a sight to behold. The caterpillar and moth are food for predators, especially birds. Owls will eat the night-flying moths. Hester Burch

These short plants can cover the ground in purple and crowd out weeds! They also provide nectar to butterflies and bees. Hester Burch

Plants Feed Insects That Feed birds reptiles amphibians mammals There has to be food for insects because our native wildlife depend on them for food. Any bird lovers here? Most birds are either eating plants (their fruit, nectar, nuts etc.) or eating something that eats plants. Hester Burch Hester Burch

Baby birds need insects! This is a baby wren that just left the nest. Almost all North American birds other than seabirds — *96 % feed their young with insects, which contain more protein than beef, -Doug Tallamy’s book (Author of “Bringing Nature Home”) Hester Burch

Plant Selection Each plant prefers or tolerates a range of soil, sunlight, moisture, and temperature conditions. Native plant garden at the Calvert Marine museum. Hester Burch

Selecting The Right Plants For Your Space You will pick native plants that are adapted to: The soil at your school. What kind of soil do you have? The light the reaches your chosen project site. How much sun does your site get? The amount of moisture on your site. Is your site dry, moist, or wet? Native plant garden at the Calvert Marine museum. Hester Burch

Figuring Out Which Plants Can Survive In Our Climate Your plants need to be able to survive your area’s hottest and coldest temperatures. This is called a plant’s “hardiness.” Plant books (and the internet) give information on a plant’s hardiness. Maps of hardiness zones show where plants of certain hardinesses can live. Native plant garden at the Calvert Marine museum. Hester Burch

Which hardiness zone is your school in? Hester Burch

Plants Selection: Other Things To Consider Select plants based on your project goals. Select plants that fruit or bloom at different times to enjoy year-round beauty. Consider how much maintenance the plants will need. Think about how the plants will fit and look in your space. Native plant garden at the Calvert Marine museum. Black-eyed Susans Hester Burch

Which of these were your class goals? Reduce stormwater runoff and improve water quality Attract butterflies Provide bird habitat Grow food Provide outdoor an learning space What would you like to create? Hester Burch

This plant guide can be used for choosing plants. The guide is divided into sections according to plant types, as will be shown on the next slides. This guide can be downloaded from www.nativeplantcenter.net. The next 5 slides can be used to show students how to use a printed guide. They also could use the web version, but this does not involve them in finding species that fit their site conditions. www.nativeplantcenter.net Hester Burch

Types of Plants To Consider: Ferns Example from the plant guide: Onoclea sensibilis, Sensitive Fern Height: 1 – 3.5’ Light: Moisture: M W Soil type: C L S Hester Burch

Grasses Example: Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass Height:3 – 6’ Light: Moisture: D M W Soil pH: 4.5 - 8 Soil type: C L S

Herbaceous Plants Height: 1 – 3’ Light: Moisture: D M Example: Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Milkweed Height: 1 – 3’ Light: Moisture: D M Soil pH: 4.8 – 6.8 Soil type: L S Wildlife: Butterflies, insects

Shrubs Example: Vaccinium angustifolium, Lowbush Blueberry Height: 1 – 2’ Light: Moisture: D M Soil pH: 4 – 6 Soil type: C L S Flowers: May – Jun, White Fruit: Jul – Aug, blue to black, berry Fall color: Red Wildlife: Butterflies, Birds, Insects

Trees Example: Cercis canadensis, Eastern Redbud Height: 20 – 35’ Spread: 20 – 35’ Light: Moisture: D M Soil pH: 4.5 – 7.5 Soil type: L S Flowers: Apr - May, Pink to lavender Fruit: Jul – Dec, black, pod Fall color: Golden yellow Wildlife: Butterflies, Birds

More Examples of Native Garden Plants This last section can be skipped. It was created because some teachers and students wanted more ideas for conservation landscapes (native gardens).

Blue False Indigo beautiful and useful to our native bees and some native butterflies and moths. Attractive and useful to our native bees. Hester Burch

Blue False Indigo Butterfly Weed The False Indigo looks like a bush after the blossoms die. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the orange plant. Many butterflies drink the nectar from its blossoms. Blue False Indigo Butterfly Weed Elms Environmental Education Center, St. Mary’s County’s butterfly garden. Hester Burch

Joe-Pye Weed is a tall wildflower loved by many- birds, butterflies, bees, and people too. Hester Burch

Indian Wood Oats Add year round interest to your garden. Seeds provide food to small mammals and some birds. Hester Burch Hester Burch

Goldenrods are the host plants for the larva of over 100 species of butterflies and moths! Is the larval host for over 100 species of butterflies and moths. Hester Burch

And they make a great backdrop for shorter plants. New York Ironweed’s tall, striking purple flowers and seeds bring insects and birds to gardens in moist areas And they make a great backdrop for shorter plants. Birds will come to your garden to eat their seeds. Hester Burch

Adam’s Needle (Yucca filamentosa) resembles a spiky cactus. It likes sandy and rocky dry soils. The blossoms provide nectar to hummingbirds! The Catawba, Cherokee, Nanticoke and other Native American tribes used Yucca filamentosa for a variety of purposes including food, medicine, cordage and even soap. The roots, which contain saponin, were prepared by boiling and pounding for use as soap. …The pounded roots were thrown into fishing waters to “intoxicate fishers” allowing for easier catch. The green leaves are easily split into long strips that can be plied into cord. The leaves have long, very strong fibers, a type of sisal, which were twisted into strong thread used as cordage for binding and to construct baskets, fishing nets, fishing lines and clothing. The leaves of Yucca filamentosa contain the strongest fibers native to North America. https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_yufi.pdf Adam’s Needle Hester Burch

Have fun picking plants for your Student Stormwater Action Project!