Private ForestsNative Plants
By Web Admin on 8/4/2005 | Keyword(s): Forest management 101Forest Management 101
View Other Documents Related to Native Plants
Native And Non-Native Plants
"Go Native" with these six basics from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources:
- Protect existing native plant communities and minimize habitat destruction
Those species that already exist in areas of native vegetation need to be conserved as a whole, functioning unit. The most cost efficient and easiest way to conserve existing plant heritage is to protect the native plant communities that are in existence from further disturbance. If there is no other option than disturbance, the goal is to minimize habitat destruction. In many cases ecological restoration will be necessary, including removing invasive introduced species, planting native species, controlling erosion and loosening soil compaction. - Landscape with native plants
Native plant communities have been destroyed in many areas requiring landscaping in many of these areas; parks, yards, streets, and campuses, for example. Well-chosen native plants perform well in these landscapes. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)-Bureau of Forestry (BOF) recommends avoiding rare, endangered, and threatened plants and instead choosing native plant species which grow commonly throughout your state. These hardy and adaptable plants do well in a wide variety of conditions and have a much better chance of success in gardens. If you do not want all natives, plant adapted introduced plants suited for the site, colorful annuals, or flowering plants that will not escape and become environmental weeds. - Learn more about native plants
Learn what plants are native in your area. Many field guides can get you started. - Buy nursery-propagated native plants
Most retail nurseries and mail-order catalogs now offer native plants. The more consumers request native plants, the more this supply will grow. If you want guaranteed ornamental characteristics, cultivars (named varieties) are available in some cases; for instance, New England Aster has a cultivar named 'Purple Dome', which was selected for shorter height and showier flowers. Cultivars should be predictable in attributes like height, color, blooming period, or absence of seed pods/thorns--qualities many gardeners want. If your goal is genetic diversity, however, ask for straight species, not cultivars, grown from local seed sources. Plants grown from seed have much more variety than cloned cultivars. - Do not remove native plants from the wild
Taking native plants from the wild depletes native populations. Also, many wild-collected plants do not survive transplanting. Prevent wild-collecting of plants by making sure that plants you buy are propagated at a nursery, or by starting plants yourself from a local seed supply (Collect seed only with the property owner's permission) - Practice responsible landscaping techniques
The first rule of responsible landscaping is to plant the right plants in the right environment: never introduce invasive plants to your landscape that will aggressively spread off your property and invade native plant communities. They can drastically alter ecosystems and give you and your neighbors maintenance headaches for years to come. When landscaping with native plants it is important to choose plants that will grow well at the site: wet or dry, shade or sun, acid or neutral soil. A good trick is to notice which native plants are thriving nearby, and to use those clues to guide plant selection. Other information can be found from plant nurseries, catalogs, books, or the Internet.
For more information see Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources: "Go Native" with these 6 basics.
- Native plant species -
- "one that occurs naturally in a particular region, state, ecosystem, and habitat without direct or indirect human actions" (Federal Native Plant Conservation Committee, 1994).
- Non-Native plant species: -
- "any animal or plant species that occurs in a given location as a result of direct, indirect, deliberate or accidental actions by humans" (U.S. National Park Service, 1996).