There are many places to research and purchase native plants. Two local resources are Blue Stem Natives and Holly Hill Farm. All can be found online.  Regional resources include Native Plants Trust in Framingham, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Wild Cohasset and Nasami Farm in Whately. 

The Native Plants Trust plant finder is an invaluable tool to learn about what plants will fit into your local environment. Becoming a member of Native Plants Trust provides many opportunities. Their journals are informative. I enjoy walking in The Garden in the Woods (Native Plants Trust) in Framingham, particularly in the spring. when the Trillium is blooming. 

I have an app on my phone that offers information about the flowers as I walk. I can’t remember when I loaded the app, but if you become a member, you will find that there are many resources available. Another app to identify plants is iNaturalist. You can take photos with your iPhone and identify plants both native and cultivars. 

Native Plants for New England Gardens by Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe is a great resource when you are starting out. Using this book can help you decide which native plants to purchase. You can find plants that will thrive in shade or sun, a dry or wet environment, whatever your yard presents. You’ll have more success if you purchase the plants that fit the conditions in your yard. 

The New York Times bestseller, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W.Tallamy is very popular and filled with information about why you might decide to chose native plants.

Welcome to “Doing my Part to Save the Planet” —A Native Plant blog. I hope that you will find it helpful as you begin to consider growing Native Plants in your yard.

There seem to be many perspectives regarding what a native plant is. My definition is that a native plant is a plant that occurs naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or plants that have been growing in a particular habitat without human introduction. Our country is divided into several Eco Regions. I live in the Northeastern Coastal Zone so I chose plants native to this region.

Some people define native plants as plants native to their region. Others define them more broadly and include plants from a larger geographic area. Cultivars are plant varieties that have been produced in cultivation by selective breeding and they are not necessary native to the area. Many people who plant native plants would prefer to not plant cultivars, however, cultivars are considered by other people as improvements due to their aesthetic performance which has been attained by selective breeding. I prefer to plant authentically native plants, however, I sometimes do include cultivars. Some purists prefer to avoid cultivars altogether.

The photo is of Lobelia cardinalis, a plant native to the region that I live in.

There is a movement underway to promote native plants for many reasons. Native plants will grow without the detrimental effects of fertilizer. Native plants feed helpful insects like native bees that pollinate our food and insects like dragonflies that eat harmful insects including mosquitos and insects that would harm your plants. Dragonflies can move and rotate each of their four wings independently, making it possible for them to fly backwards, up and down. This makes them especially adept at catching mosquitos. Native plants attract and feed helpful insects, butterflies and birds.

If you would like to attract hummingbirds, you can plant Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower), Aquilegia canadensis (Wild Columbine), Monarda fistulosa (beebalm) and Lonicera sempervirens (Trumpet honeysuckle). These plants, native to our area, provide attraction and food for hummingbirds. From my perspective, native plants are much better food for hummingbirds than sugar water which is usually found in feeders. If you decide to plant Trumpet honeysuckle you may want to select the one with red flowers as hummingbirds especially like red flowers. You will need to support Trumpet honeysuckle with a fairly tall lattice.

These plants can be ordered from Garden in the Woods ( Native Plant Trust) in Framingham and at Blue Stem Nursery in Norwell. The websites and addresses can be found on the internet.

The video below is of a hummingbird savouring Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower). Nearby, there is a Monarda fistulosa (bee balm) plant .