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 »  Home  »  Native Plants for Beauty and Function
Native Plants for Beauty and Function
In Celebration of Earth Day and Native Plant Appreciation Week

Why should we use native plants in our landscaping?

Red Flowering Currant
Your first response might be to re-vegetate a stream bank, or stabilize a hillside, or create a wildlife habitat.  
These are all great reasons to use native plants, but there are others.

Beauty is one reason.  Many natives have great flowers – who can resist smiling at the delicate white flowers of the Trillium ovatum (western trillium) in the spring?   And the bright yellow flowers of Berberis aquifolium (tall Oregon grape) light up gardens on both sides of the state.  

Allium cernuum.
Another reason is multi-season interest.  Many natives bring something of interest to the garden throughout much of the year. The early spring flower clusters of Ribes sanquineum (red-flowering currant) attract hummingbirds, and are followed by blue-black currants.  Some plants, like Cornus sericea (red twig dogwood) and Viburnum edule (high bush cranberry), have great fall color in addition to their flowers and fruit.  Some are evergreen, like Vaccinium ovatum (evergreen huckleberry), which has bright red tinges of new growth and delicious purple fruits for your fall breakfast table.

If you need another reason to add native plants to your garden, consider the savings.  Established native plants don’t need additional water or fertilizer.  They also don’t need pesticides or herbicides.  This saves you time and money, and also helps save the environment.

There are a wide variety of native plants available today in nurseries, whether you’re looking for shrubs, herbaceous plants, ferns, or groundcovers.  For more information, see the Washington Native Plant Society’s website, www.wnps.org.


 

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