New to Native Plants?
The world of native plants is amazing and teaches us something every day! Plants that are native or indigenous to our area have co-evolved with native insects and animals for thousands, possibly even millions of years. Our native bees,. butterflies, and other native insects and animals rely on these plants and will not feed on plants they cannot recognize. When we remove these resources we lose these vital and beautiful creatures. Our beautiful Monarch butterfly will not survive without native milkweed. Just by removing native trees such as the Oak trees that support over 500 species of caterpillars and replacing them with trees such as Crepe Myrtles that support none of these we lose over 500 species of butterflies and moths in that space.
We are just at the beginning of understanding how removing our native plants has caused changes in our ecosystem that have in turn caused a decline, and in some cases even extinction, of our native wildlife. The great news is that there is hope! By adding native plants into our landscapes we can begin to heal the earth
Below are some great websites and educational resources to help you discover the wonderful world of native plants.
Do you need help identifying a plant? This is a wonderful resource with photos that are updated monthly to show how the plant looks in different stages.
Georgia Native Plant Society
https://gnps.org/
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For those who would like to get involved locally, including native plant rescues, this is a great organization. There is a chapter that meets in Carollton, as well as the Atlanta chapter.
Website for lecture series and book Bringing Nature Home by University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy, one of the leading resources on the hows and whys of using native plants.
Using Georgia Natives
usinggeorgianativeplants.blogspot.com
An amazing blog full of information
on using Georgia native plants in your landscape.
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Turf To Trees
This is a wonderful page for anyone who wants to know more about the benefits and beauty of replacing your turf with native trees. The dedicated individuals
who run this page are truly making a difference for our planet!