My Favorite Resources for Gardening with Native Plants

I began gardening with native plants in 2021 after reading the book Nature's Best Hope, by Douglas Tallamy. Through his writing, I learned that there's about 40 million acres of lawn in the United States. The fragmenting of natural areas had left the foundation of our ecosystems vulnerable. I had always imagined the threat to pollinators and wildlife as "over there", but Tallamy helped me realize that the issue is actually very close to home – in our backyards even.

Though the situation seems dire, he gives hope by encouraging everyday people to support wildlife by growing what he calls a Homegrown National Park. By converting lawns to gardens, and by filling our gardens, boxes and park strips with native plants, we can all play a role in supporting our local ecosystems. Every plant makes a difference, no matter if you have a large space or a single pot.

It can be daunting to get started, so I wanted to share some of my favorite resources.

Native Plant Landscaping Made Easy: Use Sample Plans

If you're in the Pacific Northwest, this is an incredible resource. King County offers free planting plants featuring all native PNW plants. They have them categorized by light/water needs, so it's easy to find one suitable for your landscape. Each plan includes an illustrated example of how to arrange the plants, a detailed plant list and links to a profile of each plant. I can't recommend this resource enough.

© King County

Gardenia

I discovered this site last year and now I use it every time I plan a new garden space. You can adjust your search so it only shows plants that are native to your area and then once you've added them to a collection, this is where it gets really cool. You can view a full list of the plants you chose along with the growing conditions and at the bottom, they have a bloom calendar. If you're trying to support pollinators in your garden, this is huge! It shows what is in bloom when so you can make sure that your plants are flowering for the longest bloom window possible.

© Gardenia

My Home Park

The founders of My Home Park are on a mission to help American's boost the biodiversity of their home gardens by making it simple and affordable to choose native plants that are appropriate for their area. I recommend getting started by selecting your state from the Gardens tab. From there, you can browse beautiful, predesigned garden spaces that will support your local pollinators and wildlife. As of the writing of this post, this tool is best for central-Eastern states.

© My Home Park

I hope this helps you get started. Drop a comment if you have any specific questions or would like to add to the list!