Livening up landscapes with native plants

Livening Up Landscapes with Native Plants

Southern Native Plantings at Longwood Plantation is a unique nursery located near Newington in Screven County. Husband and wife Mike and Karen Smith own and operate the composting business on Longwood Plantation and the nursery Southern Native Plantings on land that was handed down through Mike’s family.

The composting business came first, a progression from a peat mining operation to a sustainable and organic wholesale composting business. The nursery was originally started as a testing site for the compost and potting material, but has since come into its own as an organic nursery, fruit tree supplier, and an excellent source of native plants.

The nursery is Karen’s domain and she has a passion for Georgia’s local vegetation. She was first introduced to native plants by Mike’s aunt who was always on the lookout for plants in the wild that could be propagated. Karen carries on that tradition and Southern Native Plantings is now a great place to find some of our local plants that aren’t generally carried by the national chains.

There are some great advantages to including native plants in your yard or garden that go beyond merely ensuring that these local gems survive. Native plants require less inputs than their exotic cousins. Having evolved in this environment, they need to be watered less, require less fertilizer and soil amendments; and as hosts to local insects should not be subjected to pesticides.

Native plants are subject to insect damage, but as Karen explains, that’s not really a bad thing! “Doug Tallamy (author of Bringing Nature Home) says, ‘if a plant has fed nothing, it has done nothing’, so that’s what plants were intended to do - to feed wildlife, to feed insects, to feed all those kind of things.”

As hosts, natives play an integral role in the lives of local insects and birds. “Native plants have evolved alongside of insects over the years. So, you have some insects that can only raise their young on these native plants. For instance, the catawba moth can only lay its eggs on the catawba tree, that’s the only thing the lepidoptera can eat. So, to get catawba moths, you’ve got to have a catawba tree,” Karen explained.

“A lot of people think that birds love berries, but birds need protein and a major part of their diet is insects, not berries … if you want birds, you need to have native plants.”

Some of Karen’s favorite native plants include the Spicebush (host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly), Chokeberry, Milkweed (host plant for the Monarch Butterfly), Bee Balms Goldenrod, Indian Pink, Blanketflower, and Pawpaws (host plant for the Zebra Longwing Butterfly).

Boneset is another of Karen’s favorites that works great as a companion plant close to tomatoes. “Another of my favorites is called boneset and it attracts braconid wasps which are non-stinging wasps … they’re parasitic wasps that lay their eggs in the tomato hornworms and eat them from the inside.”

“The whole goal of native plants is that it’s what grows in the area, it grows best for the climate, they’re usually less water-intensive, they support wildlife. They take less input once established.”

Native plants cover the gamut from ornamentals to fruit-bearing; flowers, shrubs and trees; sun-loving and those that prefer shade. Adding some native plants to your yard and garden is a great way to help support the local ecological system and provide valuable food and habitat for wildlife. Whatever your landscape or gardening needs, you’ll likely find a native plant that can meet it.