Go native, get wild(life)!

By Gary Raham
Writer and Illustrator

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Tired of pumping water into thirsty Kentucky bluegrass? Overrun by purple loosestrife run amok? Want to attract more birds, butterflies or other wildlife to your backyard? It may be time to consider "going native" with some of the many plants available that are propagated from endemic plants.

In my case, one of the natives came to me. Rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) rooted in my garden and I let her stay. The Latin name literally means gold shrub that tastes bad. I make a point to enjoy the brilliant yellow flower clusters in the fall, along with the hawkmoths, butterflies and bees she attracts. I appreciate the way she grows vigorously and shades out weeds. I prefer not to test the palatability of her taste.

The traits I've outlined above highlight several advantages of going native:

1. Native plants provide just the kinds of nutritional goodies and habitat local birds, insects and mammals need.
2. By growing native plants you protect local biodiversity. "Exotic" plants from non-local sources can force out natives. Reduced diversity is not only aesthetically less pleasing, but makes plant communities more susceptible to catastrophic change.
3. Native plants take less work because they like the local mix of soil and climate. It's home-sweet-home to them.

Does this mean you should wander into local natural areas and rip up suitable plants? Of course not. Responsible local nurseries propagate (rather than harvest) plants native to the region.

How local is native?

Sometimes it's hard to know whether a certain plant you may have read about in Peterson's "Rocky Mountain Wildflowers" is really native to this part of Colorado. The best way to survey local plants is to go out in the field for a few days with a sketchbook and pencil, make observations and notes, and key out your discoveries. Second choice might be to pick up a reference from the Fort Collins Natural Resources Department called "Fort Collins Native Plants." It lists common names, scientific names, characteristics and wildlife value for a long list of trees and shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, vines and other herbaceous plants native to our local Front Range and foothills.

Which brings up several other issues: Does your garden perch on the foothills somewhere near Lory State Park or are you nesting on old farm land on what was once short grass prairie? Are you near a lake, pond or river? Does water collect on or run off your property? Do you have a shaded and somewhat moist northern exposure or a better-lighted but drier southern exposure? Are you sheltered from the wind or do you use an anvil on the end of a chain to measure wind gusts? All these things factor into plant choices.

What wildlife do you want?What wildlife do you want?

Some people plant to attract birds. Others may want to lure butterflies or small mammals to their neighborhoods. Often, local nurseries will help guide in plant selection for specific wildlife goals. Gary Eastman at Fort Collins Nursery, for example, outlined a fairly extensive list of native shrubs and trees available from mountain-mahogany and serviceberry to junipers and Ponderosa pines.

I'm partial to butterflies, myself, and very much enjoy watching two-tailed swallowtails slurping nectar from narrowleaf penstemons or seeing the orange and black flash of a fritillary's wings near the rabbitbrush blossoms. Monarch butterflies, of course, stake out milkweeds for their larvae's food. Clouded sulfur butterflies hover near phlox and marigold. Various butterflies and bees also visit the clumps of blue flax that shed delicate, azure petals like dandruff through much of the spring and summer. Flax also produces lots of seeds for birds and small mammals and their cup-shaped flowers seem to hold drops of amber light when the sun is low.

A local butterfly expert, Paul Opler, has, with Whitney Cranshaw, produced a valuable little flyer through Colorado State University Cooperative Extension called "Attracting Butterflies to the Garden" (Publication #5.504). Opler also had a lot to do with a neat book called "Butterfly Gardening" (Sierra Club Books, 1990). The book shows how to recognize common butterflies and moths and plan a garden according to your habitat and taste with regards to garden size, color scheme and design - be it formal or more relaxed in style.

Be advised that the larvae of some butterfly species may find your vegetable garden as tasty as you do. The caterpillars of black swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes) enjoy dill, parsley and carrot, for example. Also, pesticides will kill the juvenile stages of adult butterflies, so you will have to rely on other more labor-intensive measures to weed veggies near butterfly or bird-attracting shrubs and flowers. But I think you will enjoy getting to know your wild neighbors and they will enjoy visiting you - once you have gone thoroughly native.

For more information, visit the CSU Cooperative Extension web site, www.ext.colostate.edu.