green living
NATIVE INTELLIGENCE
Planting an Eco-Friendly Yard by Avery Mack
M
aintaining a grassy yard or ornamental shrubs can be time consuming and less than eco-friendly. Tat’s why conservation-minded gardeners are turning to lush,
native landscaping as an aesthetically pleasing alternative to spar- tan, water-free xeriscaping. Native plants not only save water, they enhance local eco-
systems by providing food and shelter for birds, bees, butterflies and wildlife. “Indigenous plants build healthy soil and retain and replenish ground water,” says Michael Fleischacker, chair of land- scape architecture and environmental sciences at Delaware Valley University, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Accustomed to the climate and nutrients in their habitat, they
don’t need the extra fertilizer required by exotic transplants. Natives are also better equipped to fend off harmful insects, reducing the need for pesticides. “When pests did show up, I used insecticidal soap and neem
oil. Both are great eco-friendly remedies,” says Kimberly Button, an Orlando-based freelance journalist and author of Te Everything Guide to a Healthy Home: All You Need to Protect Yourself and Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers. A genuine indigenous plant in the U.S. predates European
settlement. Tese natives grew in the wildlands of the regions where they evolved and adapted over hundreds or thousands of years. However, what’s wild isn’t necessarily native. Tese days, the
woods and forests are rife with alien species that escaped from non-native gardens or were planted to perform some specific pur- pose that went awry. Kudzu, for instance, was imported from Asia and installed
along roadways to prevent soil erosion. Te perennial vine, which can grow up to a foot per day, has become the plague of the South, rooting out native plants and toppling trees under the sheer weight of its smothering foliage. In 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a report summarizing numerous studies that concluded that
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