Native Plants for Conservation, Restoration & Landscaping
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WHAT ARE NATIVES? well under a variety of conditions. Many of the recommended ABOUT THE NATIVE PLANTS FOR CONSERVATION, Native species evolved within specific species are well-suited to more than one of these categories. RESTORATION AND LANDSCAPING PROJECT regions and dispersed throughout This project is a collaboration between the Virginia Depart- For more information, refer to field guides and publications their range without known human ment of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Native on local natural history for color, shape, height, bloom times involvement. They form the primary Plant Society. VNPS chapters across the state helped to fund and specific wildlife value of the plants that grow in your component of the living landscape the 2011 update to this brochure. region. Visit a nearby park, natural area preserve, forest or and provide food and shelter for wildlife management area to learn about common plant The following partners have provided valuable assistance native animal species. Native associations, spatial groupings and habitat conditions. throughout the life of this project: plants co-evolved with native For specific recommendations and advice about project animals over many thousands TheNatureConservancy–VirginiaChapter•Virginia design, consult a landscape or garden design specialist with to millions of years and have TechDepartmentofHorticulture•VirginiaDepartmentof experience in native plants. AgricultureandConsumerServices•VirginiaDepartment formed complex and interdependent of Environmental Quality, Coastal Zone Management relationships. Our native fauna depend on native flora to Program•VirginiaDepartmentofForestry•Virginia provide food and cover. Many animals require specific plants WHAT ARE NON-NATIVE PLANTS? DepartmentofGameandInlandFisheries•Virginia Native for their survival. Sometimes referred to as “exotic,” “alien,” or “non- Department of Transportation indigenous,” non-native plants are species introduced, intentionally or accidentally, into a new region by humans. BENEFITS OF NATIVE PLANTS Over time, many plants and animals have expanded their Using native species in landscaping reduces the expense ranges slowly and without human assistance. As people of maintaining cultivated landscapes and minimizes the began cultivating plants, they brought beneficial and favored likelihood of introducing new invasive species. It may species along when they moved into new regions or traded Plantsfor Conservation, provide a few unexpected benefits as well. with people in distant lands. Humans thus became a new Restoration & Landscaping Native plants often require less water, fertilizer and pathway, enabling many species to move into new locations. pesticide, thus adding fewer chemicals to the landscape and maintaining water quality in nearby rivers and WHAT ARE INVASIVE PLANTS? streams. Fewer inputs mean time and money saved for Invasive plants are introduced species that cause health, the gardener. economic or ecological damage in their new range. More Native plants increase the presence of desirable wildlife, than 30,000 species of plants have been introduced to such as birds and butterflies, and provide sanctuaries for the United States since the time of Columbus. Most were these animals as they journey between summer and winter introduced intentionally, and many provide great benefits habitats. The natural habitat you create with native plants to society as agricultural crops and landscape ornamentals. can become an outdoor classroom for children, or a place Some were introduced accidentally, for example, in ship FOR MORE INFORMATION for you to find peace and quiet after a busy day. ballast, in packing material and as seed contaminants. Of these introduced species, fewer than 3,000 have naturalized Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Native plants evoke a strong sense of place and regional and become established in the United States outside Natural Heritage Program character. For example, live oak and magnolia trees are cultivation. Of the 3,500 plant species in Virginia, more than 804-786-7951 strongly associated with the Deep South. Redwood trees www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/nativeplants.shtml 800 have been introduced since the founding of Jamestown. characterize the Pacific Northwest. Saguaro cacti call to The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation mind the deserts of the Southwest. currently lists more than 100 of these species as invasive. FOR A LIST OF NURSERIES THAT PROPAGATE NATIVE SPECIES, CONTACT: In the United States, invasive species cause an estimated BUYING AND GROWING NATIVE PLANTS Virginia Native Plant Society $120 billion in annual economic losses, including costs to More gardeners today are discovering the benefits of 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2 manage their effects. Annual costs and damages arising native plants and requesting them at Boyce, VA 22620 from invasive plants alone are estimated at $34 billion. 540-837-1600 | [email protected] their local garden centers. Because of www.vnps.org this increased demand, retailers are offering an ever-widening selection of NATIVE PLANTS VS. INVASIVE PLANTS vigorous, nursery-propagated natives. Invasive plants have competitive advantages that allow FOR A LIST OF NURSERIES IN A PARTICULAR them to disrupt native plant communities and the wildlife Once you’ve found a good vendor for REGION OF VIRGINIA, CONTACT: dependent on them. For example, kudzu (Pueraria montana) native plants, the next step is choosing The Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association grows very rapidly and overtops forest canopy, thus shading appropriate plants for a project. One 383 Coal Hollow Road other plant species from the sunlight necessary for their of the greatest benefits of designing Christiansburg, VA 24073 survival. A tall invasive wetland grass, common reed with native plants is their adaptation to 540-382-0943 | [email protected] (Phragmites australis ssp. australis), invades and dominates To search for species in VNLA member catalogs, visit: local conditions. However, it is important marshes, reducing native plant diversity and sometimes www.vnla.org/search.asp to select plants with growth requirements eliminating virtually all other species. that best match conditions in the area to Invasive species can marginalize or even cause the loss of ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF be planted. native species. With their natural host plants gone, many THE FLORA OF VIRGINIA PROJECT. If you’re planning a project using insects disappear. And since insects are an essential part of Illustrators: Lara Gastinger, Roy Fuller native plant species, use the list in this the diet of many birds, the effects on the food web become and Michael Terry. To learn more, visit: brochure to learn which plants grow in far reaching. Habitats with a high occurrence of invasive www.floraofvirginia.org your region of Virginia. Next, study the plants become a kind of “green desert.” Although green and Virginia Piedmont Region minimum light and moisture requirements healthy in appearance, far fewer native species of plants and for each species, noting that some plants grow animals are found in such radically altered places. 9/2011 Scientific Name Common Name Uses Light Moisture Scientific Name Common Name Uses Light Moisture W HCDSPFLMH W HCDSPFLMH Herbs Dichanthelium clandestinum deer-tongue •••••••• Virginia Dichanthelium commutatum variable panicgrass ••••••• Achillea millefolium common yarrow •••• Dulichium arundinaceum dwarf bamboo •••••• Ageratina altissima white snakeroot •••• Elymus hystrix bottlebrush grass ••••••• Piedmont Amsonia tabernaemontana blue star ••••• Elymus virginicus Virginia wild rye •••••• Anemone quinquefolia wood anemone ••••• Juncus canadensis Canada rush •••••• Anemonella thalictroides rue anemone ••• Juncus effusus soft rush •••••• Antennaria neglecta field pussytoes •••••• Leersia oryzoides rice cutgrass •••••• Region Aquilegia canadensis wild columbine •••••• Panicum virgatum switch grass •••••••• Arisaema triphyllum Jack-in-the-pulpit ••• Saccharum giganteum giant plumegrass ••••••• Aruncus dioicus goatsbeard •••• Schizachyrium scoparium little bluestem •••••••• Asarum canadense+ wild ginger •••• Scirpus cyperinus woolgrass bulrush ••••••• Rocky falls and rapids Asclepias incarnata swamp milkweed •••••• Sorghastrum nutans Indian grass •••••••• Asclepias syriaca+ common milkweed ••••• Sparganium americanum American bur-reed ••••• on the Potomac, Asclepias tuberosa butterfly weed ••••• Tridens flavus redtop •••••••• Rappahannock and James Baptisia australis* blue wild indigo ••••• Tripsacum dactyloides gama grass •••••••• Baptisia tinctoria yellow wild-indigo ••••• Typha latifolia broad-leaved cattail ••••• rivers mark a transition Bidens cernua+ nodding beggar-ticks •••••••• Chamaecrista fasciculata+ partridge pea •••• Vines from the softer sediments Chelone glabra white turtlehead ••••• Bignonia capreolata crossvine •••••• Chrysogonum virginianum green and gold •••• Campsis radicans trumpet creeper ••••• of the Coastal Plain to Chrysopsis mariana Maryland golden aster •••••• Celastrus scandens climbing bittersweet •••••• Cimicifuga racemosa black cohosh •••• Clematis virginiana virgin’s bower •••• the resistant bedrock Clitoria mariana Maryland butterfly pea ••••• Lonicera sempervirens trumpet honeysuckle •••• Conoclinium coelestinum blue mistflower •••••• Parthenocissus quinquefolia Virginia creeper •••••• underlying the Piedmont. Coreopsis lanceolata longstalk coreopsis ••• Passiflora incarnata Purple