Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: What’s a native plant community?
Gardeners are always talking plants, it’s what we do! There’s also a lot of talk about planting native species, creating a native “community”. What does that mean?
I interviewed Phyllis Root not too long ago, she wrote “Searching for Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers – a Guide for Beginners, Botanists and everyone in between”.
It’s a great read for anyone in the upper midwest. She also explains what a native plant community DOES.
- stores carbon
- conserves water
- filters water
- purifies water
- recycles water
- builds soil
- provides food, nectar, pollen and habit for insects, birds, animals and people!
Talk about helping deal with climate change!!
Native Plant Communities – Bureau of Land Management has a program to grow native seed and plant native communities across the U. S.
Finding native plant communities near and far in our local and national parks! Native plant communities also offer something for every season.
How do you look for native wildflowers?
- Phyllis Root suggests going slowly, taking your time looking, some of those flowers are tiny and hidden.
- Ask questions of those who live in the area.
- As for identifying a flower you see, well, color helps but, as we all know, there are shades of color making something red look orange or pink…
- How many petals does it have?
- What’s it’s shape? Is it like a daisy or a yarrow or odd like Dutchman’s breeches?
- What about the leaves? And then there’s the stem… some are smooth, some are hairy.
- How tall is the plant?
- Where is it growing? In moist soil, in the shade, in sunshine, in a prairie?
- What time of year is the flower flowering?
