Why Native Plants in your Landscape?
I would like to start by saying that it was very hard to shorten all of the information that David and Jenny gave us last week. Please if you are interested watch the videos on our facebook page of the class live.
We had a great turn out to our weekly class last night. David and Jenny from Ozark Soul came out to teach us about why we should be using native plants in our landscape. Ozark Soul is a company that designs native landscapes and sells native plants in Springfield Missouri and the surrounding area. We have used them recently on some installations that we have had and I can say that the team is very happy with how helpful, timely and honest they are when working with them. Native plants can be very hard to find sometimes, and even if you do find them they may not be in the best shape. SbN highly recommends Ozark Soul for native plants. On top of all of that they really know their stuff.
Below are some quick notes from last nights class. As well as a link to the live video. (I do apologize for a few technical difficulties and the video was cut slightly short)
To start off the class David took us through some pictures of plants and titles, asking is this plant a native or not? The answer to most was no, it became clear that they reason for the exercise was to understand what a native plant actually is.
A Native Plant is a plant that existed in your area before the European settlement (aaprox. 1820)
Why should native plants be in our landscapes?
- 2 Reasons
- Ecology
- Sustainability
Ecology — We need to make an environment where we are able to support life. In traditional landscapes you do not see a lot of pollen sources, seed sources or food sources for wildlife.
Sustainability — Supports wildlife/life for an indefinite amount of time. Or the ecology stays healthy for an indefinite amount of time.
A traditional landscape is a little selfish because the only purpose of it is to be pleasing to the eye.
A Native Landscape Example: Make sure that we are doing native landscapes justice. It is very helpful to have an experience Native Landscape designer there to help you through deciding placement. You don’t want to plant something to tall on the edge so it is falling into your pathway.
Wildlife Habitat: By planting a variety of herbaceous perennials you are able to create an habitat for you insects, reptiles, mammals to hang out in and be in. This is an awesome opportunity to get close to some great wildlife.
Pollinators: A lot of people think of pollinators gardens when they think about doing a native landscape which is great! Just know the expectation that you will have pollinators at your house if you plant a pollinator garden.
Pollinators — Pollen — Food
Plant a pollinator garden near a vegetable garden, we are able to stack functions and create a great sustainable ecology.
-There is plenty more to watch in the video. Go here if you are interested in learning more on this topic or reach out to us or Ozark Soul with any questions you have! Thank you for your interest in Native plants.
www.SustainableByNature.com
417.413.3488
Info@sustainablebynature.com
ozarksoul.com