Going Native Resources

Thinking about doing some gardening? There are a lot of factors in choosing to garden, including if you have the time to maintain the garden, what kinds of plants you will put in, how much time and money you want to put in, and how you will maintain it. For a beautiful garden that requires very little maintenance, and saves you big bucks in water, think about going native!

Many choices for lawn and garden require massive amounts of water. One of the worst offenders is one of the most common: The grass lawn that we are so famous for in the USA. Native plants, on the other hand, are chosen for the specific clime they reside in, so they naturally use the amount of water available for the region.

Going native can also mean you won't have to amend the soil, because the plants are made for the soil where you are planting them! Again, that means saving money on fertilizers, and it also means you are preventing fertilizers from being washed into the water system (local rivers, lakes, and eventually bays and oceans), where they disrupt the natural balance of the ecosystem causing disruptions in plant and animal life than can eventually leave entire areas dead.

Especially in arid or semi-arid climates, it is especially important to consider drought tolerant and low water using plants. And if you're going that far, then go ahead and look into natives. They help preserve the unique natural beauty of your corner of the world by giving native insects more terrain to live in and a wider selection of plants to pollinate. This also means you will be attracting native hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden when your native plants flower. Beauty attracts beauty!

Some resources in San Diego for going native:

Water Conservation Garden

San Diego Native Plant Society

Walter Andersen Nursery

Quail Botanical Gardens

Landscape Watering Calculator