Purchase Seed

We have ordered a variety of native flower seeds from Everwilde Farms, which you can order right from Amazon through our link on our RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS PAGE. (We may earn a small commission when you purchase through our links, at no cost to you. This helps support our website.)

Want to get seed even cheaper????  Save more $$$?

Well, by collecting your own seed of course!  There are many ways to get seed, from Facebook groups to local gardening clubs.  But I love to gather them from the wild whenever I can!  Whenever I am driving during the summer, I always try to pay attention to what is blooming in the ditches or open fields.  If I see an interesting flower, I will stop and take a picture to ID the plant later.  If it is native, and interesting, I will make a mental note and return to gather seed later (say 3 weeks-2 months).  I’ve gathered many species that way – Rudbeckia, Joe Pye Weed, Echinacea, Ironweed, Bee Balm, Verbena Hastata, Lobelia just to name a few (ok, more than a few).  So, free seed – aint nuthin wrong with that!

An appropriate example

Right now (11OCT) as I’m writing this article, in my back meadow/garden there are eight New England Asters.  Six of these I grew from seed purchased online, but the other two plants I grew from seed I gathered near my home in a ditch!  Now, why this is interesting is that the plants grown from purchased seed likely came from a much more Northern climate.  Hence, they bloom earlier than my local eco-type.  So, all of the plants grown with purchased seed stopped blooming 1-2 weeks ago, while the plants grown from local seed are still blooming!  So by doing this I prolong that brilliant purple color.  I should also add that the color of the local eco-type varies significantly from the purchased seed plants, as it is a much darker purple.

Don’t forget about the trees!

Trees are a critical part of our ecosystem, and our natives have evolved in this manner for a reason.  Just think of all the

Over the last several decades, many trees have become popular in landscaping due to their flowering in the Spring, and speed of growth.  One invasive species that has been well documented to be a disaster is the Bradford Pear.  This tree was brought in to be beautiful and fast growing.  Little did the purveyors of this tree realize that the wood is weak and brittle, leading to limbs easily breaking during storms.  However, this tree does flower, and does get visited by pollinators.  Unfortunately the small inedible pears (to humans) do get consumed by birds, and then distributed across the landscape.  Now how does this (initially believed) sterile tree spread?  Why through cross pollination of course!  This tree cross breeds with pollen from other native flowering trees, to make hybrids.  These hybrids then enter the ecosystem through bird-droppings.

How invasive plants harm our native trees

Unfortunately, they grow so fast that they can out-compete native trees such as Oak, Maple, Hickory, and pretty much any other native Hardwood.  This means that they can shade out our native hardwoods, making them more prone to being consumed by deer.  (Yes, deer eat small tree saplings).  Now, these native trees sometimes have specialist birds who only nest in them, and certain butterflies will only use them as larval hosts.  If these trees aren’t allowed to grow, then again, we have a habitat reduction.  This is all due to releasing an invasive species.  The amount of butterflies that rely exclusively on certain hardwood trees is extensive.

Another example of an invader harming our trees is mile-a-minute vine.  This vine will grow extremely fast in good conditions, hence the name mile-a-minute.  The vine climbs up the tree and smothers it by taking all available sunlight.  This harms, and can kill the tree.  Below is a recent picture I took of a fairly small vine.  Although I have seen these climb up 50-60′ trees in the mountains.

Invasive Trees can aid invasive insects

Sometime in 2014, or thereabout the Spotted Lantern Fly arrived from Asia.  It has been slowly spreading (not slowly anymore) across Pennsylvania.  It has now been reported in Virginia, New York, and it’s spread is accelerating. This insect is threatening winery/vineyards, hops fields, and hardwood trees.  They are able to defoliate a tree in a short amount of time, possibly killing it.  This insect is putting people out of business, and threatening our native trees as well.  The behavior of the Spotted Lantern Fly isn’t that different from a plague of locusts, except not much seems to kill them.  This threat is barely making national news at the moment – but I predict that by 2021, everyone will be speaking about how we should have acted with more diligence against this invader.

The Spotted Lantern Fly prefers to nest on the invasive Tree of Heaven, which is helping the it multiply. The Tree of Heaven was/is an environmental disaster before the introduction of the Spotted Lantern Fly.    Being that the Tree of Heaven puts out millions of seeds, making new plants, and in turn – reducing available area for our Native Hardwoods.  In addition to the seeds, the roots from Tree of Heaven produce chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants, creating more of a mono-culture instead of our natural diversity supplied by Native Plants.

To sum it all up

I’ve tried to touch on a number of reasons why native plants belong in your garden.  Since they have their own natural beauty and are helpful to your local ecosystem at all levels is why should always consider planting some Natives with your other flowers.  In fact, sometimes they are downright critical to the survival of certain species.   Their natural disease and pest resistance means less problems for you to deal with in the garden.  And matching them to their preferred conditions will mean less general maintenance (watering, etc).  But the beauty, ecological benefits, and fruit & vegetable benefits should make growing Native Plants a no-brainer for your home.

Save time, save bees, save butterflies, and save the environment are the reasons why Native Plants should be in your garden!

Before you go…

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