Planning a pollinator-friendly native garden in MD

[Anonymous]

The “native” plant trend is so weird, like people who are anti-GMO. What is native? When did we start the clock on when something had to be here to be native? What distance from your location defines native? What do we do about filling gaps because “native” varieties simply can’t grow anymore (elms, ash, etc). I’ve seen people say things are native to Maryland but not to Pennsylvania- do plants respect borders?

I am strongly anti-invasive. Invasive plants often bring invasive bugs, diseases, etc and even invasive vertebrates sometimes. They reduce biodiversity by crowding out many other plants. Invasives are the enemy. “Native” is just virtue signaling for gardeners.

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:The “native” plant trend is so weird, like people who are anti-GMO. What is native? When did we start the clock on when something had to be here to be native? What distance from your location defines native? What do we do about filling gaps because “native” varieties simply can’t grow anymore (elms, ash, etc). I’ve seen people say things are native to Maryland but not to Pennsylvania- do plants respect borders?

I am strongly anti-invasive. Invasive plants often bring invasive bugs, diseases, etc and even invasive vertebrates sometimes. They reduce biodiversity by crowding out many other plants. Invasives are the enemy. “Native” is just virtue signaling for gardeners.

Wanting to plant native is not virtue signaling. Becoming adamant about it and insisting that anything non native is terrible and making it to a moral stance - that’s virtue signaling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The “native” plant trend is so weird, like people who are anti-GMO. What is native? When did we start the clock on when something had to be here to be native? What distance from your location defines native? What do we do about filling gaps because “native” varieties simply can’t grow anymore (elms, ash, etc). I’ve seen people say things are native to Maryland but not to Pennsylvania- do plants respect borders?

I am strongly anti-invasive. Invasive plants often bring invasive bugs, diseases, etc and even invasive vertebrates sometimes. They reduce biodiversity by crowding out many other plants. Invasives are the enemy. “Native” is just virtue signaling for gardeners.

Invasives ARE the enemy. IMO, primary focus should be on not selling, buying, or planting invasives. Many are still sold in garden centers and the likes of Lowes and HD (burning bush, butterfly bush, English ivy, etc.).

To me, native plants are what have co-evolved with the native fauna and support them, not just in fruit and flower, but also with food for their the juvenile forms. Which then pre-dates the Mayflower, because evolutionary timescale is long. I'm not particularly strict about distance; I live in Fairfax county, and I'd be happy to plant anything that grows within Virginia and southern Maryland, assuming I have the correct conditions for it. Similarly, if I lived in Southern VA, I'd plant what's native to NC as well. What I would not do is plant what's native to Texas; that's definitely too far. I am also okay with cultivars, especially when the alteration is to form (dwarf varieties) instead of flower or leaf color or shape.

As for natives that have been decimated by introduced problems, you do what you can to preserve what's possible, and add other natives when not. I believe there are efforts underway to identify trees that have survived disease and pests, or to develop "close to" natives with resistance. I have an ash tree in decline (I wasn't into natives when we moved here and I wish I were, because it's a mature tree that could've been saved), which will be replaced by something like an oak. Also a native. Also will live under similar conditions. And is a keystone species that benefits 100s of insects and birds.

I think people planting natives only cross into virtue signaling territory when they start becoming militant about it, insisting that everything planted must be a native, and shaming people for not ripping out grandma's peonies. Even people like Tallamy don't ask for that, just to try and get to 70% natives in our gardens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:The “native” plant trend is so weird, like people who are anti-GMO. What is native? When did we start the clock on when something had to be here to be native? What distance from your location defines native? What do we do about filling gaps because “native” varieties simply can’t grow anymore (elms, ash, etc). I’ve seen people say things are native to Maryland but not to Pennsylvania- do plants respect borders?

I am strongly anti-invasive. Invasive plants often bring invasive bugs, diseases, etc and even invasive vertebrates sometimes. They reduce biodiversity by crowding out many other plants. Invasives are the enemy. “Native” is just virtue signaling for gardeners.

Wanting to plant native is not virtue signaling. Becoming adamant about it and insisting that anything non native is terrible and making it to a moral stance - that’s virtue signaling.

+1 Although I'm sure they exist, I don't know anyone that militant about natives, only invasives.

[Anonymous]

I like getting native because they do well in my yard. I hired a native landscaper, but if you are doing diy, try for 70 percent native, 30 percent non-native, 0 percent invasive.