nativeplants

A native plant is one that has evolved in a particular place and continues to inhabit that geography in the wild.

1. Native Plants Are Easier To Maintain Than Non-Native Plants.
They depend on the local environment and less on human support.
2. Native Plants Provide Food and Shelter for Local Wildlife.
Because these plants have evolved in their habitats over millennia, the organisms around them have also evolved to eat, find shelter in, and otherwise rely on these specific native plants.
3. Native Plants Need Less Chemical Treatment.
4. Native Plants Can Improve Air Quality – Long-living trees such as maples and oaks are great for pulling carbon dioxide from the air and storing it.
5. Native Plants Tend To Use Less Water. 
Another advantage of these plants is that they can reduce a significant amount of water runoff and help reduce flooding.
6. Native Plants Provide Nectar for Pollinators – Native pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds feed on the nectar that their local plants provide. Almost 40% of all animals on Earth are insects, and they rely on native plants Likewise, plants rely on pollinators to fertilize them so they can grow.
7. Native Plants Help Prevent Soil Erosion – Many of these plants have deep root systems that can stabilize your soil and keep it from shifting.

A pollinator is an animal or insect that carries pollen from the male part of a flower to the female part. This process is necessary for plants to reproduce and produce seeds, fruits, and young plants.

Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce.

Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most flowering plants – the very plants that

They bring us countless fruits, vegetables, and nuts, ½ of the world’s oils, fibers and raw materials; prevent soil erosion, and increase carbon sequestration

Restoring native plant habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity in the Season of Creation. Each patch of native habitat becomes part of a collective effort to nurture and sustain the living landscape for insects, birds, other animals, and humans.

Reminiscent of the Victory Gardens promoted by the government during World War I and II, the Pollinator Garden effort is intended to help cover food shortages, only this time, for insects. The goal of the effort is to provide sufficient food (nectar and pollen) to reverse the decline of pollinators, bees in particular, and to provide habitat (milkweed) for monarch butterflies.

Pollinator decline is attributed primarily to loss of habitat and to the use of pesticides. For bees, the Varroa mite and Colony Collapse Disorder are also causes of decline. Habitat loss is due not only to the conversion of prairie and meadow to cropland but also to the use of herbicides that eradicate wildflowers in the agricultural and ornamental landscape.

In response to the alarming decline of pollinators, the US government took action. In 2008, the US Farm Bill made funding available for research on bees and mandated that conservation programs support habitat restoration and management for pollinators. In 2015, the Obama Administration released National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. Through public-private partnerships, the primary goals of the strategy are to reduce honeybee colony losses, increase populations of the eastern monarch butterfly, and to restore or enhance seven million acres of land for pollinators over the five years.

The guide to Native Plants for Central Rappahannock Virginia highlights the plants native to the Central Rappahannock area – Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties and the City of Fredericksburg. In North America, plant species are generally described as native if they occurred here prior to European settlement. This distinction is made because of the large-scale changes that have occurred since the arrival of the European settlers. These plants form the primary structure of the living landscape and provide food and shelter for native animal species, including migratory birds and pollinators. (Switch to presentation mode on the toolbar for larger text.)

Part of caring for God’s creation is to be intentional about what you choose to plant on your property.  Native plants are best, for they provide food and shelter for the birds and animals that are native to Virginia.  These plants and animals have evolved together and so need one another to thrive. 

Virginia Creeper is an easy to cultivate as a ground cover, even though it has a climbing habit and will use trees as its trellis if left to its own devices.    Its compound leaf has five leaflets, which helps to distinguish it from poison ivy, which has a compound leaf with three leaflets.  A carefree vine that needs little attention other than occasional pruning, Virginia Creeper foliage turns a dramatic red color in the fall and produces  highly nutritious dark purple berries that thirty-five species of birds enjoy eating, including woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, thrushes, robins, catbirds, bluebirds, cedar waxwings and sparrows. Birds also use Virginia Creeper bark as nesting material.  Virginia Creeper leaves also serve as food for several types of moth caterpillars, which means that birds also have access to caterpillars, which they need in order to successfully raise their young. Read more..

The Obedient Plant is a native flower of North America that grows 4′ tall in full sun with moist to medium soil.

Obedient plant gets it’s common name from the fact that one can bend a flower to the side, and it will stay put.

It attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It blooms tall spikes of pink tubular flowers for six weeks in late Summer.

The native range of Obedient Plant is North America, East of the Rocky Mountains, with the exceptions of Florida, Connecticut and Massachusetts. So it should grow in variety of climates.

Here is a video describing how the Obedient Plant is obedient.