The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Written by Burkholder Brothers Landscaping Tuesday, September 27 2011 11:23

Did you know that by the year 2000, five percent of Pennsylvania’s native plant species had been eliminated and another 25 percent were in danger of becoming extinct? Luckily there are steps you can take to help save these beautiful and useful plant species. 

Image of Native Wildflowers courtesy of City Dirt: www.citydirt.net

The Good

Native plants provide benefits to the environment as a whole while also adding value to you and your backyard. Because Pennsylvania’s native plants are meant to grow here, they thrive with less maintenance, thereby reducing the need to water and fertilize them. They also serve as pollinators, attract wildlife, and reduce other unwanted species.

The Bad

Exotic plants are those that are introduced, alien, non-native species living outside their native distributional range. They find their way to an ecosystem from a completely separate area, often via animals or human intervention. Exotic plants out-compete native plants for space and sunlight, and often have no natural predators to control their populations.

The Ugly

Invasive plants are plants which grow quickly and aggressively, spreading and displacing other plants. These are the species we are concerned about in conservation. Invasive plants tend to appear on disturbed ground. Identifying invasive plants and understanding the potential damage they can cause is essential to stopping their spread and protecting native vegetation because invasive plants are difficult to control, can escape from cultivation, and can dominate large areas. In short, invasive plant infestations can be extremely expensive to control, as well as environmentally destructive.

Find A Native Plant:

PA Department of Conservation - Plant Database

DCNR's plant database helps you find native plants based on your light and moisture conditions and needs.