Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Guide to Native Plants of Georgia for Wildlife < Why Choose Natives?

Why Choose Native Plants?
By Leslie Kimel

When planting your backyard wildlife habitat, not just any plant will do. It is very important to avoid buying exotic plants, especially invasive exotics, and choose locally native plants instead. Locally native plants are the backbone of any backyard wildlife habitat project. Here’s why:

First of all, native plants generally require much less chemical input than exotic plants do. That’s because exotic plants come from far away places that are very different from your backyard. The strange, new climatic conditions these exotics encounter in your yard—hot, humid summers, perhaps, or very cold winters—can cause them to become stressed. They whither and wilt, and as a result, you find yourself constantly watering, fertilizing, and spraying pesticides. Locally native plants don’t require this type of pampering. That’s because they’re perfectly comfortable and at home in your yard, so they don’t tend to get stressed and sick. Native plants are the easy, trouble free choice in plant materials.  And because they don’t need any chemical fertilizers or pesticides, they’re also the healthy choice for you, your pets, and the planet.

Of course, not all exotics whither and fret in American soil. In fact, some exotic plants like it here so much that they become invasive, escaping from our gardens and choking out the native species in our woodlands and meadows. Invasive exotics are a serious threat to biodiversity. Indeed, 42% of the plants on the Endangered Species list ended up there because of competition from invasive exotics. Some invasive exotics that are often recommended for wildlife gardens but should not be planted include Chinese privet, purple loosestrife, nandina, Cherokee roses, Japanese honeysuckle, elaeagnus, English ivy, and burning bush euonymus.

Invasive exotics threaten the survival of natural communities. In contrast, plantings of native flowers, shrubs, vines, and trees are the best way to restore natural habitats for native birds, insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Native plants provide native wildlife species with the food, cover, and nesting spots they need in order to thrive. Some exotic plants may provide songbirds with berries or squirrels with seeds, but what do they provide to the flies, beetles, bugs, wasps, bees, spiders, and other tiny creatures that sustain and support food webs? At the bottom of the food web, native plants far outperform exotics. In fact, native plants support ten to fifty times as many species of native wildlife as exotic plants do. That’s because native plants and wildlife have evolved together over many thousands of years and, over time, they have become dependent upon one another for survival.

Native plants make native wildlife species feel welcome and comfortable in your yard. And native plants can have that same effect on people, too. Native plants give your property something that is so often lacking in new landscapes these days—a sense of place. Think about how frighteningly anonymous a new subdivision can seem. All the natural vegetation has been cleared away, and you’re surrounded by nothing but a few Bradford pears and an unnaturally bright, windswept expanse of turf grass. You could be anywhere; you’re nowhere. Planting locally native trees, shrubs, and vines helps restore this lost sense of place. Native plants bring back childhood memories; they are part of your natural heritage and personal history. Seeing them, smelling them, you know immediately where you are—you are home.