I recently started reading Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy. I thought it might be a good time to share some ideas about how you can contribute to conserving the thing that we all love most about the High Country—it’s natural beauty.
Conserving High Country North Carolina’s Natural Beauty
The approach that Tallamy and many others suggest is to do when landscaping your yard is to make it a habitat for native species. Starting with plants, this can trickle down to providing an excellent place for all sorts of creatures to thrive.
North Carolina is home to huge number of beautiful plants, many of which can be used to create a beautiful space around your home. Unfortunately, most of what is popular in landscaping is non-native species, usually coming from Asia or Europe. Once introduced, they become naturalized and begin to take over or compete with precious space that has historically been home to native species. Some of the plants are even introduced to promote wildlife habitat, which sounds great, but the issue is that these species do exactly what they are intended to. Birds and other wildlife will disperse their fruit and seeds which allows them to spread rampantly.
Next time you are thinking of adding trees, grasses, flowers or bushes to your property, maybe take a minute and consider what native species you could use. Carolina Lupines, Northern Maidenhair Ferns, Dwarf Crested Irises, Rhododendrons, and Swamp Milkweed are just a few beautiful plants that can spruce up your yard and aid in conservation of important plants and animals at the same time. North Carolina State University has an excellent web resource that provides excellent information on why this sort of conservation is important, an extensive list of native plants (and even information give you full details on wildlife value, soil/light requirements and preferred region), how to landscape with these native plants as well as information on invasive species that you might want to avoid.
Be Social With Your Landscaping Around Boone, NC
If you decide to plant some native species in your yard please take a photo and tag us on any of our social media platforms, we’d love to re-post! ♥