Creating a Native Garden-Some Things to Consider

So you’re thinking about creating a native garden. That’s great!

By adding even a few native plants you will be creating habitat, food and nesting places for a whole spectrum of wildlife. It’s truly incredible how little is needed to make a huge impact on nature! That said, there are a few things to consider.

Size & Style

How big do you want your garden to be? Are you simply adding a few native plants to an existing garden or are you converting your entire front yard into a native garden? I ask because it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing situation; you can simply add native plants to an existing garden and slowly replace problematic plants like butterfly bush. If you are converting a large space, then there will definitely be some extra work involved (See Site Prep below).

Something else to consider is your garden style. I really enjoy wild spaces, so my native garden is more “natural” in the sense that some things overgrow or plants grow up against each other and duke it out the same way they would in a wild(er) environment. I weed out the intruders, but rarely, if ever, do I remove natives that pop up too close to one another. Even so, there aren’t huge areas of uniformity in my garden like you would see in a garden with lots of the same plants grouped together. I also don’t have any hardscaping (brick paths, etc) but I do have some rough mulch paths that are more functional than aesthetic. I hope I didn’t scare you off because you can definitely create a more organized, formal garden with plant groupings, plant sections, and borders. I just want you to think about your style, which brings me to my next point:

Time & Energy

How much time and energy do you have to maintain your garden? With a natural-style garden, you aren’t aiming for perfection, you’re simply removing invasive weeds and allowing good natives to grow. With a more formal garden, you’re removing invasive weeds AND battling anything else that threatens that crisp aesthetic, such as native plants growing in the wrong spot and weeds in the paths. This is particularly important during the first two years of the garden installation when there is a lot of space between plants and a lot of weedy opportunists creep in! If you don’t think you will have the time to tend your garden at least once a week (but probably more) then maybe it would be better to simply add a couple of native plants versus installing an entire garden.

Site Prep, Considerations & Hiring a Pro

If you decide to install a garden, you will probably need to prep the site by smothering the grass and weeds, and that will take some work. There are a few ways to smother vegetation but one of the most common is to cover the area with several sheets of cardboard and then add enough soil or compost to cover the cardboard to a depth of at least 4 inches. Keep in mind that 1cu ft bag of soil that you buy in the store can weigh 40lb! And you might need a bunch of them! So, you will definitely need to find a few friends to help you transport the materials and set everything up or you will need to hire a professional. While you don’t need a landscaper or gardener to smother the grass (a contractor or a handyman can do it) if you’re going to hire a professional, why not try to find a landscaper that specializes in native plants to do the job for you? Or find a reputable landscaper and give them a list of plants with scientific names for them to order and install. There are many perks to hiring a landscaper, like having someone plant things properly and offer you a plant guarantee in case some plants don’t make it, but yes, it will be more expensive than doing it yourself.

Tip: Search for plants by their scientific name (i.e asclepias tuberosa instead of butterfly weed) because common names can vary.

If you’re still considering doing it yourself, then do some research and draft a plant plan. You don’t want to just plant things all over the place. Even a natural-style garden should follow some basic design rules like taller plants in the back and shorter plants in the front. Find out which plants are native to your area and write down the plant height, spread (how wide it gets), bloom time (early spring, spring, summer, fall), and light requirements (full sun, partial shade, etc). Luckily, there are resources like this one from the Xerces Society that already have this info in a handy printable table. Make a rough drawing of what you intend to plant and where, and then purchase the plants. Finding plants may be a challenge depending on where you live, since most nurseries and big box stores don’t carry native plants. Sad, I know. You will likely have to order online but check with your local native plant society for local plant sales and join local native groups on social media to find out about native plant swaps or sales. This is another perk of hiring a landscaper: they will know where to find the plants you need!

In the Meantime…

Learn as much as you can about Native plants. I recommend The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy. Also, familiarize yourself with the “weeds” growing in your garden because once you set up your native garden, you will need to know what is what. It takes experience but there is much satisfaction in pulling out a few tiny weeds in early spring versus dealing with a weedy mess in summer. If this is all too much, simply add a few natives to your existing garden or grow them in containers, and don’t stress too much. One good thing you can do in preparation of setting up a native garden is to stop spraying pesticides and herbicides because the last thing you want to do is attract wildlife to your yard and have them be poisoned.

I hope you will consider adding native plants to your space. You now have some homework to do and hopefully it will bring some clarity. Like all good things, setting up and maintaining a native garden takes work and dedication, but what a great way to invest your time and money, and help pollinators at the same time.