Why Native Plants?

Have you wondered why you don't see as many birds as you used to? Have you wondered why your yard is so hot and you have so many mosquitoes? Have your wished that you could do something at home to help save the environment?

Planting native plants is the easiest and most important thing that you can do! The Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society created this store to make it easy for you to buy native plants and bring nature home.

What are native plants?

"Native plants" are what we call the plant species that were originally here before humans started developing the landscape and bringing in exotic plants from far away places. Native plants are the foundation of our ecosystem, and because they evolved together with our wildlife, are critical for the survival of everything that depends on them. Your backyard might be green and lush, but if you don't have native plants it might be an ecological dead zone for the rest of the food chain.

Native plants will attract caterpillars who feed the birds, dragonflies who eat the mosquitos, and they don't require any chemicals, so you can keep fertilizer and pesticide out of the environment.  Since they are adapted to our local conditions, native plants are drought tolerant, hurricane resistant, and don't require any watering once they are established.

Which plants are native?

You may be familiar with some of our iconic species like Slash Pine, Cabbage Palm, Live Oak, and Red Mangrove <pictures>. South Florida is incredibly diverse and we are lucky to have over a thousand other native plant species, but you won't find them at Home Depot.  Most commercial growers focus on non-native plants and cultivars which are chosen based on their appearance and resistance to caterpillars and other wildlife.  This is exactly what creates the dead zone effect.  Native plants are beautiful too, and when you plant them you become a bird farmer by attracting the insects that they feed on.  A chewed up plant is a bird feeder, full of tasty snacks for hatchlings that are too young to eat seeds.  Plus, a restored habitat that is free of insecticide will be home to many mosquito predators like dragonflies that will make your yard more pleasant to be in.

Exotic plants can be fun too when they are not invasive, but we recommend you aim to make your yard 80% native species.

What are invasive plants?

Invasive plants are plants that do harm to our native ecosystems because they lack the natural predators and other forces that keep them in check.  Some invasive species like Brazilian Pepper, are allelopathic, meaning they exude chemicals that keep other plants from growing.  Other invasive plants do harm simply by out of control growth that crowds out other plants.  Even our native plants can be invasive to other ecosystems, for example hammock plants can take over a pine rockland that has been subject to unnatural fire suppression for long periods of time.  Miami-Dade county maintains a list of prohibited plants that you should watch out for, however there are many others.

Each invasive plant can spawn many others, so it's important to remove them as soon as you see them.  And if your property is overrun with invasives, you should remove them before planting native plants.  Recently disturbed soil is the most subject to invasive plants and applying mulch can help keep them under control.