Create a gorgeous, low-maintenance yard full of birds and butterflies by landscaping with local plants.
Imagine opening your door to a yard of beautiful flower beds teeming with butterflies and birds. You still have a lawn, but it takes much less time to mow, and you don’t have to bother with bagging leaves in the fall—you simply rake them into the flower beds, where they become natural mulch and habitat for next spring’s caterpillars and insects, which, in turn, feed a wide variety of local birds.
(“Purple Smoke”)
As towns and cities have grown over the past 50 years, habitat for birds and the insects they feed on has, unfortunately, shrunk. Thanks in large part to the efforts of noted entomologist and wildlife ecologist Doug Tallamy, a movement is building among homeowners to make changes in our own yards that, collectively, have the potential to dramatically benefit local birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
Tallamy proposes that “not all plants are created equal,” and native plants provide food and shelter for insects and birds at a vastly higher ratio than non-natives. He advocates landscaping with native plants from your region because they have evolved to support local food webs, collectively creating what he calls a “Homegrown National Park” of beneficial native plants right in our own backyards.
CREATING A LOCAL LANDSCAPE
Creating a homegrown bird habitat sounds like a great idea, but no one wants a weedy, overgrown, unattractive yard. The good news is that, with thoughtful design and maintenance, we can create lawns that benefit wildlife while maintaining a manicured look.
In his groundbreaking book Nature’s Best Hope Tallamy wrote, “Landscaping will no longer degrade local ecosystems; landscaping will become synonymous with ecological restoration.” In other words, we don’t have to give up our lawns to make a difference, and we can actually make our yards more beautiful and more beneficial in the process. And it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition; any of these simple tips will make your yard more welcoming to wildlife.
(Ann Hardy with cat)
■ Add new planting beds or expand existing beds in your yard. Adding or expanding your flower beds will reduce lawn maintenance and add year-round interest. Plant native varieties that are sure to flourish as well as attract and feed local wildlife because they are naturally well suited to your region. See below for plants to avoid and native alternatives for common landscaping choices.
■ Remove invasive plants from your yard and replace them with native alternatives. You don’t have to remove all of your non-native foundation plantings; not every non-native plant is invasive, and many are fine to leave in a landscape if they bring beauty and enjoyment.
Invasive plants, however, invade undisturbed natural areas, choke out native plants, and leave wildlife without food sources. Some common invasive plants in Virginia include Japanese honeysuckle, nandina, English Ivy, butterfly bush, and privet.
A complete list of invasive plants can be found on the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website: DCR.Virginia. gov (search: invasive plants).
■ Avoid cultivars. Many plants sold as native are in fact cultivars that have been bred for characteristics that are not present in the straight native species. These cultivars, however beautiful, often lack wildlife benefits, such as pollen and even colors not visible to the human eye but essential for insects to identify the plants.
Cultivars are also often grown far from where they are sold and are not adapted to the local microclimates that locally grown native straight species are.
Allow plants to grow and see what comes up. Remove invasive plants so that naturally occurring native species can thrive.
■ Leave the leaves. Leaves are nature’s mulch and provide important food sources and nesting materials to a wide variety of beneficial insects. Instead of removing fallen leaves, keep these valuable natural resources on the property by gently raking them into garden beds or under trees. Leaf blowers destroy delicate nesting sites, reducing the number and variety of beneficial insects.
■ Skip the fall cleanup. Leave stalks and flowerheads to overwinter, providing food and cover for birds and nesting places for native bees. The best winter birdfeeders are native plants, which provide seeds and nesting habitat for caterpillars that will emerge in the spring and will support birds as they nest and feed their young.
■ Create a “wild corner” by gathering brush, branches, and stems in your yard to provide shelter, habitat, and food for birds and other wildlife.
(“Lanceleaf Coreopsis”)
■ Be curious. Allow plants to grow and see what comes up. Remove invasive plants so that naturally occurring native species can thrive. There is a latent seed bank in the soil, ready to spring forth if we allow it to.
You might be surprised and delighted at what comes up and will have the ultimate locally-grown native plants with very little effort other than paying attention.
■ Cut the lights. Outdoor lights wreak havoc on moths and other insects, reducing the population of caterpillars that birds rely on so heavily for their young. Setting outdoor lights on timers or motion detectors will help moths (and those tasty caterpillars) survive and thrive.
■ Plant in multiples and plant a variety of plants. When planting natives, plant at least five of each species to increase the chances of the plants’ survival and provide insects and birds with enough volume to benefit. Planting a variety of plants attracts a wide variety of wildlife in a complex and supportive ecosystem.
PLANT THIS, NOT THAT
You may be surprised to learn that some common landscaping plants are not native to Virginia, although they are widely planted. If you’ve decided to spruce up your yard or replace invasive plants, be sure you’re choosing native varieties for their wildlife benefits, low maintenance, and beauty.
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is planted for its summer blooms and sculptural form, but it is not native to Virginia (it’s from the Indian subcontinent) and provides virtually no wildlife benefits. One possible alternative is serviceberry (Amelanchier), sometimes known as shadbush, which blooms in the spring when the shad start running in the rivers of central Virginia. Another native small tree to consider is Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), which provides magenta blooms in the springtime and is an early source of nectar for native bees, hosts butterfly larvae, and produces seeds for birds.
For summer flowers that attract and feed the native pollinator insects, try planting early coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) instead of the garden center black-eyed Susans.
(Joel Cabot in garden in Church Hill)
Leyland cypress (Cupressus x leylandii), a non-native tree that is valued as a fast-growing evergreen screen, offers nearly no wildlife benefits while introducing problems like susceptibility to disease and breakage. A better solution for screening your neighbors’ yard is to plant a mix of native plants and shrubs that offer visual interest, food, and habitat for beneficial birds and insects, and layered screening. Such a hedgerow might include Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), inkberry holly (Ilex glabra), and red chokecherry (Aronia arbutifolia).
Finally, for summer flowers that attract and feed the native pollinator insects, try planting orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) instead of the garden center black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’), which are native to several midwest states, but not Virginia. Choose sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) instead of exotic butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii), and native coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) instead of Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica).
These tips will help you make your landscape more welcoming to wildlife at any scale, and you can take it one step at a time. Update your yard in ways that feel comfortable to you, and then sit back and enjoy the birds, butterflies, and bees that visit throughout the seasons.
RESOURCES
Interested in making your yard more appealing to wildlife? These resources can help.
Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy and The Living Landscape by Doug Tallamy and Rick Darke
Homegrown National Park, HomegrownNationalPark.org
Plant Virginia Natives, PlantVirginiaNatives.org
Virginia Native Plant Society, VNPS.org
Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora, VaPlantAtlas.org
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center, Wildflower.org
The Chesapeake Bay Conservation Council offers a directory of certified landscapers, ChesapeakeLandscape.org
The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay provides a design tool, Stormwater.AllianceForTheBay.org/Yard-Design
This article originally appeared in the August 2021 issue.
