Add Photo to Journal
|
|
| Photo Credit: © Pennystone Gardens |
| Trollius laxus is easy to grow but rare in the wild. This charming spring bloomer makes a great border plant in any landscape theme – and you help keep the species alive! |
Like all forms of specialty gardening, landscaping with native plants is just a matter of personal taste – as well as how much your interest in these lovely plants evolves over time. There’s nothing that says once you go native, you can’t garden with other plants. (Gardeners – much like their gardens – typically grow into this style.)
You hear the same story from many gardening enthusiasts about how they got into this passionate hobby: Homeowners typically begin with a need to spruce up their yard, so they get some plants from a friend or perhaps see something enchanting and find their way to a garden center to figure out what it is. This casual interest launches them on a voyage of discovery and specialization, not only in botanical knowledge but in self-expression. Native-plant gardeners have similar stories, too. Some start by picking a particular native for its ability to thrive in shade, cover the ground, provide a nice background or add texture to the garden. Others start because they simply wanted to add some pretty native plants and do their part in the conservation movement, or maybe they wanted to support pollinating insects and the genetic strength of an entire species. No matter how native gardeners got started, as soon as the intrigue of native plants sets in, they’re hooked. And it’s easy to see why: Once you learn how natives thrive in specific habitats and form communities that interact with each other, you can adapt your garden to meet those plants’ requirements (and sharpen your botanical skills at the same time). This is where the enthusiasts who shift into the native-plant gardening theme begin to impose limitations on themselves (just to kick the challenge up a notch). They often opt to garden only with specific natives, or they try to create their own communities of plants. And once they start, it’s hard to stop.
|