Establishing native plants in your yard allows for ecosystem processes that can’t be achieved with common lawn grass or ornamental landscapes. Native plants work well for many landscaping and wildlife habitat plantings, because once established they seldom need watering, mulching, protection from frost or continuous mowing. Native plants produce nectar, pollen, and seeds that serve as food for native birds, butterflies, bees, and other wildlife. In contrast, many common horticultural plants do not produce nectar and often require insect pest control and/or expensive fertilizers to survive.  The deep roots of many native plants hold soil and prevent erosion, and they help control stormwater by taking up water that might otherwise pour into streets, streams, and local waterways.

It depends on what your priorities are! Here are 6 things that native landscapes do that traditional ornamental landscapes don’t:

1.       Sustain themselves. Properly selected native plants that match your yard’s specific conditions will self-seed, grow deep roots, and thrive for generations with little to no maintenance. This is often just not possible with non-native plants in typical landscapes.

2.       Support native wildlife. Native plants play an integral role in the local food chain. The plants sustain the pollinators that feed the birds that eat and disperse the seed so the cycle can continue indefinitely. Plants that are not natural to the environment just can’t offer the same benefits - and oftentimes, non-native plant species are invasive and damaging to native ecosystems (we see what you’re doing, Buckthorn!).

3.       Remove Carbon from the air. I think by now we all know the danger and urgency of carbon emissions, but did you know that native plants can trap carbon and place it back into the soil where it belongs? Native plants that have deep, extensive roots do this infinitely better than turf grass or ornamentals.

4.      Create healthier soil. Microorganisms in the soil rely on healthy, extensive root structures from native plants. In turn, the thriving microbes produce and deliver nutrients to the plant. This benefit sharing means better soil for other native plants or even a thriving vegetable garden. Why are my fruit trees producing more than yours? It might just be because they are surrounded by native plants!

5.       Help keep pollinators pollinating. Did you know that bees will travel up to two miles for nectar? And bats travel even further. The insects and animals that you attract to your yard will not only pollinate you and your neighbors’ plants, but they’ll also help keep pest populations under control! Without healthy pollinators, our natural food supply would be gone. Happy bees, happy planet!

6.       Improve habitats. The benefits of planting natives is immediate. In just one season, your native plants will have provided many times more benefits (and used way less resources) than your lawn grass could in its lifetime. So let’s get started!

Leaving dead plant stems in the fall provides several benefits for your garden:

1. Creates wildlife habitats. Many beneficial insects like solitary bees, ladybugs, and lacewings overwinter in the hollow stems of dead plants. They use the stems for shelter from the cold and as places to lay their eggs. Leaving the stems undisturbed until spring can help these insects survive the winter and potentially pollinate your garden next year. 

2. Enriches the soil. Dead plant material decomposes over time, adding organic matter and nutrients back into the soil. This process improves soil fertility and structure, which can lead to healthier plants in the long run. The decomposition also provides food for beneficial microorganisms in the soil. Why spend your time and money cleaning out your garden and then buying fertilizer and compost in the spring when you could do neither and have healthier, happier plants?!

3. Protects your roots. The dead foliage can act as a natural mulch, insulating the roots of perennial plants from extreme cold. This is particularly helpful for more tender species that might be susceptible to frost damage. The foliage can also help retain moisture in the soil, reducing the need for watering during the colder months. 

4. Creates a more interesting aesthetic. While some gardeners prefer a tidy garden, leaving the dead stems can be an interesting textural element in the winter landscape. 

5. Helps control pests. Leaving dead leaves and stems can provide habitat for the natural predators of slugs and snails, such as beetles, centipedes, and frogs. This can help to naturally control pest populations in your garden. 

By removing dead plant stems in the fall, you're not just cleaning up – you're actively removing nutrients and benefits to the health and biodiversity of your garden. 

For many of the same reasons we don’t clean up our plant stems! We do try to gather the leaves so that they stay in the landscaped areas as much as possible. As the leaves break down, they create nutrient rich (and free!) compost. If the leaves don’t go in the gardens, we mulch them back into our yard to allow those nutrients to support the soil health in the rest of our yard.

Because nature is wild! Have you ever walked through a forest and seen native ferns growing in rows or tidy clumps? More likley, you’ve seen various species of plants all intermixed together in a beautiful mess of green. That’s what native plants do! Birds, wind, and other animals carry the seeds to other places and new plant life grows where it will flourish. No one needs to water or fertilize because the plants are growing where they’re meant to! After we planted our garden initially, some plant varieties didn’t flourish. What did we do? Let those plants die out and let the plants that did flourish fill in the empty spaces.

They are tall! Some native flowering plants can grow up to 8 feet tall! The tallest plants we currently have in our garden are all plants native to Minnesota prairies. Imagine a huge swath of sweeping flowers stretching out over a field - beautiful! We choose not to trim our plants because we like the natural look and feel of them. Every year, the shape and structure of the garden changes as the plants have the freedom to move and grow as they please. If you have a native garden and want to trim your plants to be shorter - you absolutely can! Try the Chelsea Chop or a similar method to reign in the height but maintain the beauty of your flowers!

We’re working on getting some identification signs up soon, but in the meantime - feel free to ask! Snap a picture and send it to us and we’ll let you know!

Unfortunately, weeds are fast and voracious growers, making it extremely difficult to eradicate them quickly. The good news is, native plants can be fast and voracious growers as well! We’ve attempted to move our native garden from wood mulch to "living mulch” which requires a native ground cover plant. Ultimately, last summer was hard and we had some plants die and that has allowed the weeds to creep into those open spaces. Have you ever heard the saying that “One year’s seeds makes seven year’s weeds?” It means that allowing weeds to go to seed just one season can impact the weed population for seven years, if not longer! The only sure way to get rid of them is to keep removing them and not allowing them to go to seed, as well as planting native plants to out compete them! We try not to use herbicide if we can avoid it to help protect the native plants that are surrounding them. Weeds are a natural occurrence that is unavoidable, but as native gardens become more established and we stay on top of weed removal, over time the weed population should be reduced and easier to manage!

Honeyberries, currants (black and red), raspberries (black and red), cherries, apples, alpine strawberries, strawberries, gooseberries, chocolate mint, oregano, and lemon balm.

In short - yes! More than 80% of the world's flowering plants need a pollinator to survive, including plants like fruits, vegetables, and nuts that are a large part of our diets. And pollinator gardens don’t just help bees! They support birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, and help remove carbon from earth’s atmosphere. Don’t let the bugs keep you from planting a garden. Even a small native garden in the corner of your yard can make a huge impact in your neighborhood!

Absolutely! There are many varieties of native plants that fit a more traditional landscape aesthetic. We would love to meet with you to learn more about what style of plants you like and help you find the plants that would work best in your yard!

There are numerous resources available online! If you’re in Minnesota, we suggest looking at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources page on Landscaping with Native Plants as well as their resource on How to Use Native Plants for Landscaping and Restoration in Minnesota. In addition, their Native Plant Encyclopedia is easy to search to find what might work best for your specific space. If you’re still looking for more help, feel free to contact us and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction. Or, if you’d prefer, we’d be happy to do a consultation and design with you that’s tailored to your yard and personal aesthetic! Fill out our contact form for more information.

No problem! We know from experience how overwhelming it can feel to try to start a landscape when you feel like you know nothing about growing plants! If we can do it - we promise that you can, too! Starting with a small garden in your yard can be a great way to learn more and help the planet while you’re at it! Sometimes it can help to have a friend to guide you as you’re getting started, and if you’d like us to help you along the way, we’d be honored to come along for the journey!

Ask away! Feel free to fill out a contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we are able!