What are native plants and what are their benefits?
A native plant is any plant that has naturally developed in a region over a period of time. This means a native plant has not been introduced to a region due to human introduction.
Since native plants are indigenous and have grown naturally over a period of time, they have formed a symbiotic relationship with nature and native wildlife over many years. The benefit of native plants, therefore, is that native plants offers the most sustainable habitat.
Planting native plants in your area can help you care better for your local ecosystem. These are the plants have already adapted to the local climate and soil where they naturally grow and occur. Native plants help the environment the most when planted in places that match their growing requirements. They will thrive in the soils, moisture and weather of your region. That means less supplemental watering, which can be wasteful, and pest problems that require toxic chemicals. Native plants also assist in managing rain water runoff and maintain healthy soil as their root systems are deep and keep soil from being compacted.
Exotic plants that evolved in other parts of the world or were cultivated by humans into forms that don’t exist in nature do not support wildlife as well as native plants. Occasionally, they can even escape into the wild and become invasive exotics that destroy natural habitat.