The Plant Native

FAQs

I’m so overwhelmed. How do I start?

Planting a native garden doesn’t require a landscape architecture degree. Don’t be scared by zones or terms like partial shade (or partial sun?!) Let’s put aside questions about whether your soil is clay or loam.

Here are four easy steps to help get you started. These steps maximize helping butterflies and birds and minimize stress and decision-making. 

STEP ONE

Remove invasive plants

Butterfly Bushes have a great name—but provide disappointing assistance for wildlife and are invasive

Take a walk around your yard: do you have any invasive plants? Invasive plants are plants that are non-native to your home area, yet thrive in your area. They are so successful at growing and spreading that they need to be removed before they choke out native plants, trees, and wildlife.

Sadly, lots of invasive plants are still used in landscaping. Here are some common invasive plants to remove from our gardens:

  • Butterfly bush. Don’t let the name fool you!
  • English ivy. Unless you are in the UK, this one needs to go.
  • Mondo or Monkey Grass. Super common, super bad.
  • Burning bush. Turns out its red leaves are actually a signifier of danger.
Common Invasive Plants

Step Two

Pick a spot + meet the sun

Foamflower is gorgeous—and great for shady gardens

Maybe you already have a spot in mind to plant your native garden, or you’ll replace the invasive you removed with native. If so, you know where to start.

If you don’t know where to plant, we recommend going inside and looking out the window. Where do you want a gorgeous view? That’s a great place to start your native plant garden. We spend so much of our lives inside our homes. Pick a spot where you can enjoy the garden from outside and inside, year-round.

Once you’ve found your spot, figure out the sun situation. It’s much easier than it may sound. We like Dennis Patton’s explanations from Kansas State Extension (paraphrased here):

  • Full sun = areas that have no trees or buildings around them, 6+ hours of sun a day
  • Part sun = edge areas: areas on the edges of trees or buildings that are not northern-facing, 3-5 hours of sun a day
  • Shade = Areas always under trees or buildings or north-facing edge areas. Less than an hour of sun a day.

If you’re unsure about the sun, don’t worry! Take a picture or video of the spot and bring it to your local nursery. The staff can help you determine its location.

Step Three

Plant for butterflies

Butterfly Weed—a type of milkweed—is beloved by butterflies

It can be overwhelming to show up to a nursery or plant sale and see hundreds (if not thousands) of options available. Let’s make it easier. 

Rebecca McMackin, the former director of horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park says it best, “the best thing to do is to plant butterfly host plants.” A host plant is a specific plant that a butterfly lays its eggs on and its caterpillars eat. Some of us were taught as kids that caterpillars eat lots of different leaves—but that is often untrue. Many caterpillars eat only specific PLANTS—their host plants—including beloved favorites like monarchs.

These special host plants can be the basis of butterfly existence, and you should start planting them first. Explore our butterfly plant guide and find your favorites. Once you’ve found a few you love, bring them to a native nursery or plant sale and see what’s available.

Step Four

Let’s get planting!

Natives—like this Alum Root—look great in containers, too

Visit local plant nurseries, plant swaps, and plant sales, and look online to find native host plants in your area. Native plants are the secret to cheap (or even free!) gardening. There are so many ways to find native plants:

I’m so overwhelmed. How do I start?

Where can I find seeds and plants?

Finding native plants can be challenging (we partly blame Marie Antoinette.) To make it easier, we’ve assembled four sourcing ideas.

Native Nursery List

100+ native nurseries makes finding one a breeze

Online Native Plant Sellers

We've included 100+ online resources to help

Society Plant Sales

Every state has a native plant society; find yours

Online Communities

Local Facebook groups are a great plant source

What if you can't find native plants at your local nursery?

Most local nurseries will order specific native plants for customers without extra charges. They often receive weekly shipments from larger wholesalers and can include your requested native plants in their orders. Speak with a nursery staff member to arrange a custom order.

Still stuck?

Plant Milkweed!

Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterflies. Monarch butterflies are endangered and need milkweed to survive.

Milkweed is native to every state except Alaska and Hawaii.

There are 100+ species of milkweed native to North America. Visit your local plant nursery; they will most certainly have milkweed. 

Milkweed is very easy to plant and care for. In return, your yard will instantly be a nursery for monarch butterflies. If you’re feeling paralyzed with decisions (it happens to us all, especially parents and caregivers), it’s a no-brainer to start with milkweed.

Plant milkweed

And that’s it! Hopefully these steps have helped you find your footing (and confidence) as you start your native garden. Sometimes, we encounter books, Facebook groups, or conversations with peers that can make native gardening feel a little intimidating. These steps are intended to help give a framework for getting started and help get plants in the ground that can help pollinators and butterflies quickly.

Not for you? There are countless other ways to start, too

Maybe these steps are not what you had in mind or didn’t spark that excitement for your garden planning. Here are a few other ideas for starting your native garden:

This list could have hundreds of entries. We’ll leave it here for now and keep adding to it (email [email protected] to share content ideas).

That sums up our recommendations for starting a native garden. Remember: native plants can plant themselves—we can plant them too. Also, we lived through a worldwide pandemic. We have no reason to be intimidated by flowers.

Happy planting!

Next steps and resources

UPDATED —
08/03/2024