DELMARVA - National Native Plant Month is celebrated during the month of April. Native Plant Month is meant to highlight the crucial importance that native plants play in our local ecosystem.
“There’s native insects that evolved with different grasses and other different plants and if those plants are not here because of the invasives taking over their property than these insects cannot survive,” explained Su Fiske, a landscaper at Inland Bays Garden Center near Bethany Beach.
Native plants have evolved for thousands of years with native insects. These insects have formed unbreakable relationships with these native plants. Sometimes an insects diet can only consist of one singular plant. For instance, the Monarch caterpillar can only feed on milkweed. When invasive plants push milkweed out of habitat they would normally grow in then the Monarch caterpillars cannot survive.
As the weather warms up, we can play an important role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem balance by adding native plants to our home gardens. There are a large variety of plants native to our area. Some of these plants include red columbine which is the host plant for Columbine Duskywing butterflies, swamp milkweed which hosts Monarch butterflies, highbush blueberries which is a keystone species hosting hundreds of species of insects, and large varieties of oaks which can host over 400 different insects.
“If you have a pot and put a native plant in it, that allows the insects a stepping stone into where they can go and get it natively and naturally, so every little bit helps immensely,” explained Fiske.
Here is a list of local plant nurseries which sell native plants that you can add to your home gardens or landscaping.