A Few Things to Think About When Buying Plants

Plants evolve over time; meaning they adapt to thrive under the conditions of the area they grow in. This happens over hundreds to thousands of years. (Though, climate change may make it difficult even for native plant and animal communities because the change is happening too quickly for them to adapt.) This is one reason to consider using native plants in your garden, as they should thrive better than non-native plants. (This does not mean you can’t have your favourite plants as well.) There is more to using native plants (flora) though, because they also evolve with our native animals (fauna). The plants and animals (the biotic) along with the physical environment they live in (the abiotic) is called an ecosystem, and they rely on each other to survive. Many of our insects rely on native host plants to complete their lifecycles; like our butterflies. Our native fauna recognize certain plants as host plants, food , and for shelter. By providing native plants and a water source we create habitat, little oases for our non-human friends within our human-made environments. If you have room to plant some native plants, that’s great, but even if you don’t, that’s ok because there are many beautiful plants that provide food for pollinators, as well as, many herbs and vegetable plants. If you live in a townhouse or condo, you can help our pollinators by growing some flowering plants – that provide a good nectar source – on your deck. By having plants that flower, and possibly plant that flower and are host plants, and if enough of us have these types of plants in our neighbourhoods; we can create wildlife corridors that help pollinating insects move from one green space to another. This is becoming even more important because many green spaces are being lost to human development, and our pollinators need food and water as they move from one green space to other. They may even decide to stay in your neighbourhood. Many of our insects and birds are in decline, and some are going extinct. (Our Western Bumblebee was once very common, and now is rarely seen.) Check out the articles on native flora and fauna in the blog category section.