Guest Author - Alegra Bartzat

Thinking about doing some gardening? There are a lot of factors in choosing to garden, including if you have the time to maintain the garden, what kinds of plants you will put in, how much time and money you want to put in, and how you will maintain it. For a beautiful garden that requires very little maintenance, and saves you big bucks in water, think about going native!

Many choices for lawn and garden require massive amounts of water. One of the worst offenders is one of the most common: The grass lawn that we are so famous for in the USA. Native plants, on the other hand, are chosen for the specific clime they reside in, so they naturally use the amount of water available for the region.

Going native can also mean you won't have to amend the soil, because the plants are made for the soil where you are planting them! Again, that means saving money on fertilizers, and it also means you are preventing fertilizers from being washed into the water system (local rivers, lakes, and eventually bays and oceans), where they disrupt the natural balance of the ecosystem causing disruptions in plant and animal life than can eventually leave entire areas dead.

Especially in arid or semi-arid climates, it is especially important to consider drought tolerant and low water using plants. And if you're going that far, then go ahead and look into natives. They help preserve the unique natural beauty of your corner of the world by giving native insects more terrain to live in and a wider selection of plants to pollinate. This also means you will be attracting native hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden when your native plants flower. Beauty attracts beauty!

Lawns can use up to FOUR gallons per square foot. Couple this with evaporation if you water during the daylight hours, and we're talking about a thirsty patch of grass. Also consider the amount of time a lawn requires. In addition to the weeding and general pruning that all kinds of yards require, lawns also need regular and frequent mowing. This takes up a lot of time, and costs a lot of money.

To consider the full environmental impact think about this: gas powered mowers and leaf blowers cause more pollution in one year than regular driving of a new car. These lawn machines cause carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxides, increasing local pollution levels and smog, and adding to greenhouse gases that are causing major environmental crises worldwide.

Switching to natives offers many benefits in a wide arena to yourself, your community, and the world at large.