Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to help reduce waste, use less materials and energy, help conserve species or habitats, and/or generally work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet.
This week the green thought is about planting native plants. Whether you have a large yard, a single flowerpot, or something in between, we all have a choice of planting native plants or non-native plants. One of the big problems with non-native plants is that they often do not stay where we plant them. Oh, that specific individual plant stays put, but plants have amazing ways of dispersing their seeds, and so the population spreads! And non-natives can have some serious drawbacks for species that are native. Non-natives may not provide the food that native animals need, or they even be toxic. They many outcompete native plant species. They may use more water than native plant species. The list goes on and on.
Native plants are a great solution. Native plants are likely to provide benefits that mirror the drawbacks of non-natives. Natives are likely to provide the food that native animals need. They are likely to occupy an otherwise underutilized niche in the ecosystem and so not outcompete other species. They use less water than non-natives. This list also goes on and on. So, when it comes time to plant something, we can all take a bit of time to learn about what plants are native to the areas we live in and select one of those!
What do you think of these thoughts and the solution? Is this a step you will take? Do you have any other solution ideas?
Thank you for visiting my blog! Please check back in next week for another Green Thought Thursday!
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