Choose Native Plants this spring for your garden

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Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Hirta) photo by Doug Lockard (courtesy of SC Native Plant Society)

If you are considering doing some yardwork or gardening for Earth Day, our Environmental Affairs team encourages you to use South Carolina native plants. Many nurseries carry native plants, so please ask what is available at your favorite shopping location.

Fire Pink (Silene virginica); photo courtesy of SC Native Plant Society

Why Native Plants?

Reasons to go with South Carolina native plants include:

  • Native plants provide the best food sources for local wildlife when the native animals need them.
  • Native plants won’t take over our woods and fields like kudzu and other invasive plants do.
  • A well-functioning native plant community helps regulate flood waters, cool the air and filter pollutants.
  • Native plants help pollinators, which are vital to the health of our natural environment. About 75 percent of all flowering plants depend on pollinators to complete their life cycle.
  • Many insects and other animals eat plants, and birds and other wildlife need both insects and plants to survive. Except for sea birds, 96 percent of all North American birds feed insects to their young.
  • About one third of all our food and beverages depend on insects to pollinate plants. We need pollinators, too!

And speaking of pollinators, on April 20, Environmental Affairs will host a Lunch & Learn with environmental educator Jennifer Mancke on European honey bees and other pollinators. The Lunch and Learn event will be available on DHEC’s YouTube page following the event.

Smooth Coneflower, photo by Bill Sharpton (courtesy of SC Native Plant Association)

To learn more about native gardening, click here. To learn more about South Carolina native plants, click here.

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