How Do I Find Plants Native to My Area?
The bulk of what you’ll find at the average garden center in the United States are plants that originated in Europe or Asia.
However, foreign plant species require more maintenance, water, and other resources than natives because they didn’t evolve in your climate.
Foreign vegetation also provides significantly less habitat for wildlife including pollinator species like bees and butterflies.
But how do you figure out what species are native to your area? There are several online resources that can help you find the right plants for your location.
The National Wildlife Federation partnered with entomologist, author, and native plant advocate Doug Tallamy to create the Native Plant Finder online tool.
Simply enter your zip code then choose between a list of flowers and grasses or trees and shrubs.
The list of species is sorted by the importance to wildlife in your area, or what’s called a “keystone plant”
“The research of Dr. Doug Tallamy, and his team at the University of Delaware have identified 14% of native plants (the keystones) support 90% of butterfly and moth lepidoptera species.”
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center through the University of Texas has a great online database of North American native plants.
It allows you to sort by state, plant type (shrub, herbaceous, fern, etc), lifespan, light requirements, soil moisture, bloom time, height, leaf arrangement, and leaf retention.
This provides the ability to find the right native species for the specific conditions of your yard and the aesthetic you want to create.
Each species has its own page of specifications about the plant, along with photos.
The Biota of North America Program has a large database that includes maps of the native ranges of plant species.
Their website lets you search by species or by state/providence. It can be used as a tool to check the area that a plant is native to or to find species you’re not yet familiar with.
Search Engines
When in doubt, look it up! If you’re at the garden center and think, “I really like this plant, I wonder if it’s native to my area” then pull out your phone and do a quick search.
Simply searching “X plant species native range” should pull up the websites listed above and more.
Plant Palettes by Native Yardening
If you’re in the Midwest or eastern United States and want to save some time searching for native species, check out our plant palettes! This downloadable and printable e-book has over 100 native species listed by sun and water needs and categorized by perennial flowers, shrubs, and grasses.