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In the past few years native plants have started to gain widespread popularity. I am so excited about this because they are SO GOOD for nature, SO GOOD for your garden, and because now folks are breeding gorgeous cultivars and you can find a healthy selection at your local nursery!
There are many reasons to bring native flowers onto your property and into your garden. My favorite reasons are that they attract wildlife, they need less water, and because they usually won’t take over your entire yard.
Native Flowers Attract Wildlife
When I say wildlife, I don’t mean pest species like rabbits and deer, I am referring to pollinators and songbirds. We want pollinators and songbirds in our gardens!
Pollinators, are essential to any successful culinary garden. In order for your plants to produce fruit the flowers need to be pollinated. Because the flowers on vegetables are often small and surrounded by leaves, it is incredibly helpful to grow flowers around/within your vegetable patch to attract the pollinators to your veggies. You can plant any flowers around your vegetables, but native flowers are superior because they attract more butterflies and bees than ornamental plants.
For example, did you know that not a single species of caterpillar can eat a butterfly bush? Because of this, even though I know you’re picturing a butterfly bush covered in butterflies right now, less butterflies flock to a butterfly bush than to a native flower like goldenrod. Goldenrod supports over 100 species of caterpillars and over 40 species of specialist bees. Those butterflies and bees are going out of their way to look for goldenrod which means your garden will be directly in their path. Goldenrod also looks lovely in a vase and you can also use it for tea.
Songbirds are attracted to your garden when you plant native plants because they eat caterpillars. The best part is, they will eat any caterpillars not just the ones on your native plants. I love having small wrens around the garden because they take care of my cabbage worms and my hornworms for me.
Native Flowers Need Less Water
Native plants need LESS water than ornamental plants. The reason for this is native plants have evolved to have super deep roots that can take advantage of moisture way below the surface of the soil. This means that if you plant native flowers around your veggies, not only do you get the benefits of flowers, but you can use every last drop of your rain barrel water for your veggies. Also, because you aren’t watering them, they really are set them and forget them plants!
Native Flowers Are Not Invasive
My third reason for loving native flowers in the vegetable garden is that they won’t completely take over your garden plot. Native plants have evolved with the wildlife in your area and there are creatures that will eat them!
Some native flowers, like goldenrod, can be aggressive because they can spread via rhizome and via seed, BUT, because they have natural predators they will not completely take over your property like mint or wisteria.
Native Flowers in My Container Garden
Even though I rent my property and grow all of my veggies, herbs and fruit in containers, I still make an effort to grow native plants and mix them throughout my space.
I grow orange cone flower, elderberry, little lemon goldenrod, eastern prickly pear cactus and high bush blueberries in my garden.
The cone flower supports over 20 species of bees, the goldenrod supports over 40 species of bees and the blueberries support 14 species of bees and over 200 species of caterpillar.
The best part about my native plants? I can eat all of them except for the cone flower. Elderberry makes great tea and jam, I harvest the goldenrod flowers for tea, the prickly pear grows delicious fruit and who doesn’t love blueberries? In fact, some of the most common cultivars of blueberries sold for their fruit production are native plants!
If you’re interested in adding native flowers to your garden this year look up your Ecoregion and choose plants that are appropriate for your area. Just because the plant is native to the United States does not mean it is native to your state. Also, there are some great resources for which keystone plants will do well in your area so check those out as well!
Good luck!
