With another season of gardening almost here, environmental groups and organizations are once again reminding us of the importance of planting native species.
A native plant is one that was not introduced to the area by humans.
Lori Borthwick of Quinte Field Naturalists (QFN) says native species of trees, shrubs and plants serve an important purpose.
“They’re already adapted to the climate here. So they’re easy to grow and they don’t require a lot of extra watering and they are beautiful and they support all of the native pollinator insects that have evolved with them.”
As an example, Borthwick says while the Asian Gingko Biloba is a lovely tree, it doesn’t have the same effect on the ecosystem as a native tree.
“It only supports two species of caterpillars. If you were to plant a northern red oak in your yard, it would support almost 500 species of caterpillars. And all of our songbirds require caterpillars to feed their babies. Chickadees need 6,000 per hatchling.”
Lilly of the valley and forget-me-nots are examples of plants that are seen everywhere but aren’t actually native to this region.
Those types of plants are considered invasive as they spread quickly, choking out native plants and offering little value to local wildlife.
Borthwick speaks from experience when she says adding even just two or three native plants to your garden can make a huge difference for pollinators like bees and butterflies.
“For years I never had any bees in my front yard. Like no bumble bees, no bees of any sort. And I started planting, you know, just a few native plants and last fall it was just humming with bumblebees.”
Borthwick adds many nurseries have native plant sections now.
Quinte Field Naturalists will have a native plant section at their annual spring plant sale on May 16.
The event will be held from 8 a.m. to noon in the St. Joseph’s Church parking lot at the corner of Victoria and Herchimer Streets.
“And we do have a master gardener that’s happy to answer any questions people have about what plants would do well in their garden. Whatever their area, whether it’s a dry shade or a moist shade or a sunny spot.”
For anyone interested in seeing native plants on the landscape, Borthwick says that QFN has done a lot of planting at Clifford Sonny Belch Park over the last few years.
“We have a native flower section that’s over 1,800 native flower, pollinator plants. We have planted, probably 30 different kinds of native shrubs on the toboggan hill and then we planted hundreds of trees.”
On May 27, QFN members will be be hosting a “Tree Talk” at the park to discuss and show off the plantings.
For those interested in learning more about native plant species and how they affect local ecosystems, Borthwick suggests looking into the work of Doug Tallamy, an American conservationist who has written several books and has a YouTube page.
To learn more about Quinte Field Naturalists, click here.
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