Naturalize Your Landscape

What does that mean, to naturalize your garden? Aren’t gardens already natural?
Instead of meticulously designing and maintaining every aspect of your landscape, often with exotic plants, flowers, bushes or trees from far flung locations around the globe, this model involves allowing selected, locally sourced , native plants to grow and spread freely, creating a more relaxed and organic look. Naturalizing allows you to embrace nature’s ability to self-renew and flourish. And the benefits are many:
By replacing, even a portion of your lawn with these plants you can:
-Attain More Water and Carbon Absorption
-Become Pollinator Friendly, adding a Food Source for Birds and Other Wildlife. These diverse, natural environments improve the health and biodiversity of your entire garden.
-Eschew Most Mowing (gas powered mowers produce more emissions than cars!)
-Less Maintenance and Watering
-More Resistant to Pests, Diseases, and Drought
-Save Your Back with no Digging After the Initial Planting, and Minimal Pruning

“O.K., sounds good, what plants do I introduce to my garden?"

The plants you choose will be quite specific to your location. The following organizations offer guidelines and suggest specific plants based on your

local resources. Are you on the coast, an inland valley, a mountainous region? Each will suggest different native plants.
Native Plant Trust: https://plantfinder.nativeplanttrust.org/Plant-Search This a great resource, as is
https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org. which allows you to enter your zip code to find appropriate plants.

https://grownativemass.org/sites/default/files/documents/Keystone-Plant-Species-for-Landscape-

Use_GNMA-web_2.pdf

https://grownativemass.org/sites/default/files/documents/Keystone-Plant-Species-for-Landscape-

Use_GNMA-web_2.pdf

Don’t forget those Keystone Plants
Do you know how there is usually one person in a family that collects the family
stories, keeps tabs on what everyone is doing, and calls for reunions. They are
the keystone in your familial unit.

A keystone plant species is quite like that. It is a native plant, specific to your region,

that has an outsized impact on its local ecosystem, supporting a disproportionately

large number of other species, such as

insects and birds. If a keystone plant species

is removed, it can have a devastating effect on the food web, leading to a significant loss of biodiversity. These plants are essential for maintaining the health and stability of a food web and are critical to local ecosystems.

Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Parks explores brilliantly how to identify and find the plants best suited for your region:

https://www.homegrownnationalpark.org/wp- ontent/uploads/2023/04/HNP-CONTAINER-GDN-L.2_8.1s.pdf? _gl=1*16n1h55*_ga*MTE5NTU3MTI0NS4xNzQzMzcyNzI2*_ga_ZTP4KEPKJH*MTc0MzM3MjcyNi4xLjAuMTc0MzM3MjcyNi42MC4wLjA

Here is another useful resource:

https://grownativemass.org/sites/default/files/documents/Keystone-Plant-Species-for-Landscape-Use_GNMA-web_2.pdf

Finally, naturalizing adds diverse beauty to your garden. Different plant heights, textures, and colors creates a dynamic and luscious landscape that changes with every seasons. It can also provide a peaceful place to connect with our natural world.