I’ve been a native plant gardener for about 11 years now and I truly believe that native plants are a good thing. [Response to TMT Publisher Arnold York’s column “This and that,” March 15, 2012]
Disclosure: I’ve been a 10-year volunteer, former employee and sometimes PR consultant with the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants. I jokingly refer to myself as a native plant zealot-I throw seeds, not stones.
First, I need to dispel one myth: we don’t live in a desert. What you see in Palm Springs and the Mojave Desert is truly desert.
Second, I want to share with you that I think California native plants are beautiful.
When many newcomers to natives come to the Theodore Payne Nursery, I find they are looking to save water. And then something happens: they discover that natives are beautiful or, at the very least, not ugly like they had imagined.
They are surprised when they discover hummingbird sage, native iris, monkeyflower, sages, native lilac and more. California is home to 6,000 native plant species.
These newcomers then learn that native plants provide habitat to birds, butterflies and hummingbirds, to name a few.
They become hooked on natives because of three things: beauty, water and wildlife.
There are lots of resources to learn more about natives, including Theodore Payne, the California Native Plant Society and others. I encourage you to continue the conversation about the beauty and value of natives. I think you will be surprised.
Keith Malone