by Connie Oswald Stofko
There are lots of reasons to use native plants in your garden.
I like them because they’re low maintenance. Because they have adapted to our climate, they can survive hot, dry summers without me having to get out the hose. They can take cold, snowy winters without any fuss, too.
Native plants attract birds and insects, which can help pollinate our plants. Native plants aren’t invasive, as some non-native species can be.
I think one of the reasons gardeners don’t use native plants more frequently is that they don’t think native plants are attractive, or perhaps gardeners just don’t know what native plants look like.
To solve that problem, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper has created the Western New York Guide to Native Plants for your Garden, available for free online. A limited number of paper copies of the book are available, too. See a list of locations with the paper version, but call first to see if there are some left.
The guide is beautifully designed and contains lots of photos so you can see what the plants look like. They’re organized into categories: ground covers, perennials, grasses & ferns, shrubs, trees and vines.
The guide also includes planting plans for six different types of garden: butterfly garden, songbird garden, winter garden, shade garden, rain garden and streetside garden.
There’s another section with tips on designing, planting and maintaining your garden. It includes a list of invasive species and good native alternatives.
This is a helpful guide to use as you’re making your gardening plans for spring.
This project was funded through a grant by the Niagara River Greenway Ecological Standing Committee.
Don’t forget that Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper sells rain barrels, too. Even though you can’t keep rain barrels outside during the winter (they will split when the water inside freezes and expands), I was delighted one year to get a rain barrel as a Christmas gift.
Kate, you can see a list of landscapers in our Gardening Directory. Scroll through the list or click on the landscapers category. This is a busy time of the year for landscapers, so you may not be able to get an estimate until August or September. When you contact them, please let them know you heard about them through Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com!
Can you recommend any local landscapers that could help us get started? We would love to transform our backyard which is currently just grass.
You can check our Gardening Directory for garden centers near you. Also check our Events page. Many garden clubs and other groups are having plant sales during the next few weekends. Lessons from Nature is having a plant sale in East Aurora that will have native plants. I hope that helps.
Could you tell me where I might purchase seeds
or native plants as I am going to plant a in a plot
Of 60 sq. ft. Mu home is in Maple Springs
NY.
Thank you
Beth, Lockwood’s Greenhouses carries a selection of native plants. Also, you’ll see that the last section of the booklet is a list of places where you can buy native plants. http://bnriverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Native-Plants-Purchasing-List.pdf
This pdf is fantastic! Thank you. Besides walking through the woods with a shovel and bucket, where can we purchase/locate these plants for our gardens?
Thank you for alerting to the Riverkeeper guide to native plants. What a valuable resource.
Donna, thanks for the clarification on the term invasive.
Lisa, I got your email and checked the links yet again and they all seem to be going to the correct pages. Here is the url you want:http://bnriverkeeper.org/get-involved/native-plant-guide/
I hope that helps.
Riverkeepers is a great organization. I think your use of invasive is not as NYS describes. In the general use of the word, a native plant can overwhelm an area, it just might not “cause economic or environmental harm.” I think both native goldenrod and cattails (both the native and the non-native invasive) get out of hand in some places, where that is all one can see in fields or wetlands. Excessive cattails affect fish breeding and lower water levels. Just a thought.
I clicked on the link ‘Western New York Guide to Native Plants for your Garden’ and had no problem at all.
Thanks for all the great info!
Lisa, that is strange. I’ll try to fix the link. Could you tell me which words in the article you are clicking on?
I try do open up the native plant guide and I get an annual fire arms discharge report very strange