Help me understand the importance of native plants
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Anonymous
Then you don't actually understand the arguments. A loss of bees and other pollinators would be catastrophic for everyone. Where do you think your food comes from? LOTS of food crops rely on pollinators, and the entire ecosystem relies on the food chain of insects and birds. You don't do it because it's not pretty and you don't like bees. You don't get it at all. |
Anonymous
You want a yard where your kids can play, I want a planet where my kids can live safely and comfortably. |
Anonymous
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Get this guy's books. Also, any non-native plant has the potential to become invasive. Ask me about the effort and money that I've spent trying to eradicate some atrocities that the former owners planted. I have a garden full of native plants and a huge amount of bumblebees, other native bees and wasps, tons of butterflies and birds. The never bothered my two very active boys who played outside all the time. We kept a small patch of grass
for soccer but the rest is all native plants. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist-who-wants-unleash-wild-backyard-180974372/ |
Anonymous
You won't get fruit and veggies without bees. I have tons of blueberries and they need a specialized native bee (Andrena bradleyi) to get fruit. |
Anonymous
If you want a whole story, read this: https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Best-Hope-Approach-Conservation-ebook/dp/B07NMH5GH5 If you want the short story: we need to plant natives because insects, arachnids and birds that evolved with the plants here and they need specific plants in order to feed and reproduce. Have you noticed the shocking lack of birds, butterflies, bees and other things on the wing? It’s because they have no habitat and no food. (In this book he goes on to say that we ALL need to plant natives, a sort of nationwide national park). It’s all part of the food web, we’re all part of it. We need all the pollinators (native bees! Some wasps! Even some flies! Birds!) and they need the natives. Truly, lots of them can’t eat other plants. Some people would say that we need to plant all natives and only natives. I hate most natives. I think they look weedy and ugly, but how much of that is because we only ever see them growing in ditches and other interstitial spaces? But next year I am putting in a huge native garden and I’m going to be slowly mixing in more natives elsewhere around my yard. Because while some are really, really ugly, some are really, really beautiful. Cream Wild Indigo, for example, offers year round interest (gorgeous bridal bouquet type blooms early in the spring when the bumblebees are just emerging, and the whole plant turns black and looks all sculptural all winter), purple love grass en masse literally looks like a purple cloud, and the purple columns of liatris draw so many butterflies that it’s like a butterfly zoo. If you don’t want to commit to all natives, you can get the most bang for your buck by planting keystone species. They talk about that here (and this fact: “Maryland, alone, has 1.1 million acres of lawn which is twice the size of Maryland’s state parks, forests and wildlife management areas.”!): https://www.nutsfornatives.com/post/native-plants-might-your-garden-be-a-national-park Furthermore, I’m going to be looking into permaculture foods and other ways to build my soil health to sequester more carbon. Those of us with lawns can be combatting global warming because even if we get businesses to stop dumping carbon, we still have all the excess carbon in the air to deal with. TL;DR: go ahead and plant a few hydrangea - it’s your yard! - but surround them with natives. |
Anonymous
| I like all the arguments about how the loss of native species affects us all, but truly I would have predominantly natives in my yard because I think it is important to remember that we are not the only creatures on the planet. The lack of bugs in the summertime is truly frightening to me. |
Anonymous
Bees aren’t native, either dummy. They pollinate non-native fruit, nut and vegetable crops. We can do this all day…. |
Anonymous
I used to be scared of bees but having the plants has actually made me more comfortable with them. They are so busy on the flowers they don’t notice me weeding. (We did get the hornet nest removed. Sorry, hornets.) |
Anonymous
We can; it’s not going to make your uninformed arguments any more persuasive. No, honeybees aren’t native, but there are 4,000 native bees in America. Haven’t noticed any in your yard, not many birds or butterflies? No, you haven’t; there’s nothing for them to eat, nowhere to live. That’s what we’re talking about. DP. |
Anonymous
It’s spooky, isn’t it? |
Anonymous
You can plant all the natives you want but it’s not going to help much when you live next to Mosquito Joe’s best customers. |
Anonymous
| You are not “ saving the planet” with your tiny yard. |
Anonymous
Native plants are easy and using them does not mean you have a wild looking yard. Sound like you want a big lawn and a vegetable garden. I have seen people do that and never get any vegetables because of the lack of pollinators. |
Anonymous
My yard is covered in bees because we have pollinator gardens. I cannot remember the last time someone has been stung by a BEE (vs. a hornet). In fact, I don't know that we have ever been stung in our own yard. Bees are not aggressive. Some don't even have stingers (mason bees). They do not sting unless provoked or out of fear. I understand the misconception about bees but you are way off base here. Further, the unlikeliness of you or your kids being stung is greatly outweighed by the need for, you know, food. Fruits, vegetables . . . .they don't happen without bees. |
Anonymous
With mine alone? You're correct. With many people doing it, yes, they are helping quite a lot. With everyone doing something, then yes, the contribution is even greater. Have you read or been educated on this topic at all? (No need to answer, I already know it). |