Let’s Rewild Together: Bringing Back Native Plants, One Clump at a Time
Above is a photo of a real Vermont Native Phlox. When you buy plants labeled “Native” often times they are technically Nativars (cultivars x native) because they have been bred for certain properties. Also, many times plants labeled as Native aren’t even native to Vermont but Native to the Northeast.
I found that I really had to do my research. Often plants are touted as “Pollinator friendly”, which is purely a marketing ploy. Many of these plants are far from native, which means they do not support local pollinators.
My garden beds do not include just natives, otherwise there wouldn’t be many plants in them at all. I continue to add more and more natives but that is a harder job than one might think. Sourcing true natives is a like finding a needle in a hat stack. There are small grass root nurseries but the big suppliers are hardly selling true natives, if they carry many at all.
