April is Native Plant Month!

Senate Resolution 603 was agreed to with Unanimous Consent on March 20, 2024, designating April 2024 as National Native Plant Month!

By The Perennial Garden Club

Go Native!

Why celebrate native plants? They are a fragrant and tasty invitation into our gardens for birds, butterflies, moths, bees, and animals. Natives are at the center of the living landscape. Over thousands of years, they have formed complex and interdependent relationships with native creatures, providing them with food and shelter. Most of the food we eat depends on pollinators.

Love Your Native Plants – Love Your Dirt!

Each region enjoys unique seasonal changes—flowers in the spring, sunny summers, color in the fall, snow-covered landscapes. Natives in each region have adapted so well to these changes that they do not require fertilizer or pesticides, which can pollute our rivers and our soil. In healthy soil, natives above the ground are partners to the microorganisms under the ground; natives trap carbon and clean the air we breathe.

Clean Water is Vital!

The root system of natives reduces runoff during heavy rains, filters water, protects wetlands, and sequesters carbon. These are the gifts we receive when we plant natives—gifts also received by the fish in rivers and streams.

Keeping It Native!

We can reduce the problem of invasive plants when we plant natives. Invasives have been introduced from around the world and can expand beyond our gardens and into the wild. Invasives smother trees and disrupt native plant communities, creating a “green desert” for insects and birds.

We probably already have native plants in our gardens. To find out more, check the lists of natives (and invasives) on your state’s Native Plant Society website at https://theplantnative.com/ resources/native-plant-societies.

How to Celebrate Native Plant Month!

Plant native plants! When we plant natives, we can delight in the colors of the seasons in the garden. We can create a healthy environment for birds and butterflies, and we can ensure bio diversity which sustains whole ecosystems—all in our own backyards!