What is a Native and Why Buy Native Plants for your Landscape?
Native Plant Finder
When it comes to attracting beautiful butterflies and birds to your yard or community, the best thing you can do is use native plants. By planting natives, you restore the health and function of your local ecosystem. This website will help you find the best native plants specifically for your area that attract butterflies and moths and the birds that feed on their caterpillars, based on the scientific research of Dr. Douglas Tallamy.
Did you know that a native oak tree can support the caterpillars over 500 species of butterflies and moths? Those caterpillars are a critical food source for over 96 percent of the songbirds. For example, a pair of Carolina chickadees requires between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars to successfully raise just one brood of young. That’s the power and importance of planting native plants when it comes to supporting wildlife. This tool focuses on butterflies and birds, but many other wildlife species also benefit when you plant natives.
No other online resource offers zip code specific lists of native plants ranked by the number of butterflies and moths that use them as caterpillar host plants.
When it comes to attracting beautiful butterflies and birds to your yard or community, the best thing you can do is use native plants. By planting natives, you restore the health and function of your local ecosystem. This website will help you find the best native plants specifically for your area that attract butterflies and moths and the birds that feed on their caterpillars, based on the scientific research of Dr. Douglas Tallamy.
Did you know that a native oak tree can support the caterpillars over 500 species of butterflies and moths? Those caterpillars are a critical food source for over 96 percent of the songbirds. For example, a pair of Carolina chickadees requires between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars to successfully raise just one brood of young. That’s the power and importance of planting native plants when it comes to supporting wildlife. This tool focuses on butterflies and birds, but many other wildlife species also benefit when you plant natives.
No other online resource offers zip code specific lists of native plants ranked by the number of butterflies and moths that use them as caterpillar host plants.
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Landscaping with Native Plants
A native plant is one which occurred within this region before settlement by Europeans. Native plants include ferns and club mosses; grasses, sedges and rushes; perennial and annual wildflowers; and the woody trees, shrubs, and vines which covered “Penn’s Woods” when the first settlers arrived. There are 2,100 native plant species known in Pennsylvania. An introduced or non-native plant is one that has been brought into the state and escaped cultivation to become established in the wild. At the turn of the 21st century, about 1,300 species of nonnative plants existed in Pennsylvania outside of gardens, parks and agricultural lands. That is 37 percent of Pennsylvania’s total wild plant flora. More introduced plants are identified every year. |
PA Native Plant Society
The Pennsylvania Native Plant Society advocates conservation of native plants and their habitats and promotes the increased use of native plants in the landscape. Additional Resources:
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, Agriculture Research & Cooperative Extension: Conserving Wild Bees in Pennsylvania (Downloadable pdf) Excellent resource page from Wild About Native Plants website |
