Showerthought: I think the whole native plant purist thing in my local gardening club is a bit much.

Last week at the Seattle Garden Club meeting, my friend Mark gave a talk saying we should only plant species from before 1800. I get the idea, but three years ago I planted some non-native lavender from a nursery in my yard, and now it's the only thing that keeps the local bees happy all summer. Has anyone else found that a few non-natives can actually help your garden?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_blair1mo ago

Yeah the pre-1800 rule is wild lol. My yard would be a sad dirt patch without some non-natives. If the bees are going for it, that's a pretty good sign it's doing more good than harm. The purists in my old club would lose their minds over my climbing roses.

kelly9681mo ago

My neighbor has a huge patch of that same lavender and it's covered in bees from June to September. The local butterfly bush they told us to plant instead barely gets a visitor. Sometimes the rules miss the point of what actually works in a real garden. If a plant isn't spreading like crazy and it's feeding pollinators, how much damage is it really doing. The 1800s cutoff feels like they're just making up a number to sound strict.