If you just moved into a new construction home, chances are, there’s still work that needs to be done when it comes to landscaping. Landscaping improves curb appeal and gives you something attractive to look at when you look out the window. But you know that adding native plants to your yard landscaping can be incredibly beneficial? Georgia has some beautiful native plants that are easy to grow and excellent additions to your front or backyard. Here’s what you need to know!
Georgia Native Plants That Will Look Great in Your Yard
For a list of all of Georgia’s native plants, visit the Georgia Native Plant Society website. There, you can search by plant type and find information about the ideal growing conditions for each plant. Here are some ideas, but there are many more options!
Vines and Shrubs
- Coral honeysuckle—a climbing vine with lovely flowers that are a favorite of hummingbirds and other pollinators.
- American beautyberry (French mulberry)—an ornamental shrub with bright purple berries that birds love to eat
- Sweetshrub (Carolina allspice)—a fragrant shrub with reddish blooms
Flowers
- Blue-eyed grass—a relative of the iris, a plant with star-shaped blue flowers
- Scarlet buckeye (firecracker plant)—a striking flowering plant with tall red blooms
- Bottlebrush buckeye—a tall plant that enjoys shade and has large, white, bottlebrush-shaped flowers
- Butterfly milkweed—essential to monarch butterflies and has lovely blooms
- Coral bells—a popular landscaping perennial that flowers in early summer and has lovely foliage all year round
Ornamental Trees
- Flowering dogwood—a popular flowering tree that grows 20-40 feet tall
- Tulip tree—a fast-growing, cone-shaped, low-maintenance tree with tulip-shaped leaves
- Southern sugar maple—a smaller-sized maple that blooms in the spring and turns colors in the fall
Why Plant Native Plants in Georgia?
While there are endless options of exotic plant species to choose from, here’s why you should include some native plants when planning your garden:
They’re Essential to Pollinators and Songbirds
Butterflies and other pollinators rely heavily on native flowers, shrubs, and trees. Pollinating insects are essential to our survival, and it’s important to give them some plants that they can feed on, as many pollinators cannot feed on non-native plant species. Songbirds also flock to native plants.
They’re Easy to Care For
Georgia soil is notoriously poor, and many plants will die if you don’t amend the soil. However, native plants are adapted to the local soil and climate, so they are usually easier to grow and cheaper to maintain than non-native species. As a homeowner, you will enjoy not having to water, fertilize, and prune your plants. For very little effort, your native garden will provide year-round beauty.
They’re Good for the Environment
When you plant native species, you’re protecting biodiversity. Native plants generally don’t need a lot of fertilizer or pesticides, which means less water pollution. They also have strong root systems that help prevent erosion, which is essential for keeping our water supply clean.
Where to Get Native Plants
You can find native plants at these Georgia nurseries. These local nurseries can also help you choose the plants that are best for your yard depending on the soil type, amount of water available, and sun/shade amounts.
