Great Resources
Useful tools to help you improve the health of your landscape
Useful Native Plant Databases
You have heard how important native plants are to our environment, but how do you find out which plants are native to your area and support your local ecosystem? One important resource is your state or local native plant society or native plant group, such as The Native Plant Center in New York. Another way to to explore regional native plants is to do some research online. Here are a number of great resources to help you along the way:
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/
Native plant database
USDA PLANTS Database
www.plants.usda.gov/java/
Plant database, including natives
Biota of North America Program
www.bonap.org
Native plants by state and county level
Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finder.aspx
General plant database
Plant Native
www.plantnative.org
Native plant and nursery lists by state
More Great Resources
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Guides
Sometimes you need a gardening resource that is a quick read, providing distilled information that is useful, interesting, and well-written. Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) has excelled in publishing such books in the form of their garden guides. Over the years, BBG has published several dozen Garden Guides on topics ranging…
The Xerces Society & Attracting Native Pollinators
Honey bees in decline, Monarch Butterflies in crisis, major threats to certain species of native bees – these are the stories we frequently see in the news these days. Wouldn’t it be great to support an organization whose mission it is to protect creatures like bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and other…
Backyard Foraging
In the past decade we have been inspired to “grow local – eat local.” Why not take this idea a step further and eat even more of Mother Nature’s Bounty? If you have been reading this blog, you know that I enthusiastically recommend a number of edible native plants. In…