If my recent post about chemicals lurking in mass-produced plants wasn’t enough to persuade you, here are five more reasons to do your spring garden shopping at native plant sales and nurseries (like the ones listed here).
Yes, this is shameless eye candy. But it is eye candy with a purpose, supporting a bounty of life in the landscape.
1. Swamp milkweed
Why I love it: Aslcepias incarnata is one of four milkweeds in my garden. Each comes into its own at slightly different times of the season, providing a continuous supply of foliage for the monarch butterfly caterpillars who depend on milkweed leaves for survival. The blooms host a pollinator party every day.
Who else loves it: Swamp milkweed also feeds queen butterfly caterpillars, hummingbirds, and bees. (For more on milkweeds native to your region, see this helpful list from the National Wildlife Federation.)
2. Beautyberry
Why I love it: I often lament the undeserved names native plants were saddled with centuries ago. But beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is one bush with a label worthy of its radiance. Purchased on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, my beautyberries are at the edge of my front garden. They’re also at the edge of their native range, a broad swath of the southeastern U.S. that reaches the coastal plain of Maryland but not the Piedmont. This might explain why they stay rather small here, since native plants grow best in the local soils to which they’re adapted. (I’m OK with that; it likes it here well enough, and I like it here, too!)
Who else loves it: High in moisture content, the berries are food for more than 40 bird species, including the northern bobwhite, American robin, brown thrasher, purple finch, and eastern towhee. Foxes, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, deer, and armadillos also eat the drupes.
3. Coral honeysuckle 
Why I love it: Why doesn’t everyone love it? That seems a more appropriate question. Lonicera sempervirens, native from Maine to Florida to Illinois to Texas, is a hometown hero with exotic flair, adding color all summer long to my garden. In warm years, it starts as early as April and flowers until November. (By the time this photo was taken on May 3, 2012, in Howard County, Maryland, the vine was in full regalia.) Unlike the invasive Asian honeysuckles, trumpet honeysuckle blooms prolifically where planted but does not take over habitat. Instead, it creates it!
Who else loves it: Also called coral honeysuckle, its flowers feed hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Its fruits attract quail, purple finches, goldfinches, hermit thrushes, and American robins. And its leaves are a larval host for spring azure butterflies and snowberry clearwing moths.
4. Possumhaw viburnum
Why I love it: I never thought I’d love berries as much as I love flowers, but this bush changed my mind. As the fruits ripen, the colors change from light pink to deep pink to blue. Viburnums don’t typically flourish in the baking heat of my yard. But Viburnum nudum is adaptable in a variety of conditions. Near the treeline that borders our property, it gets a little of everything—some sun, some shade, and varying levels of water, depending on the season.
Who else loves it: As the name implies, opossums eat this fruit, as do raccoons. Many birds, including cardinals, woodpeckers, and robins, feast on it, too. In May and June, the white flowers host bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
5. Golden ragwort
Why I love it: I bought a single pot of Packera aurea about 12 years ago. If I had to count them now, it would take me days. We have thousands. But that doesn’t mean this plant is invasive—quite the opposite. Its shallow roots are easy to pull, and it spreads only where it’s planted. After it finishes blooming in early spring, the leaves stay lush all summer and provide a natural groundcover. In lieu of seas of barren mulch, we grow golden ragwort under chokeberries, dogwoods, and in the bare spaces between meadow plants. When flooding forced me to rip out my beloved fern garden where I’d planted that very first ragwort, it took only one season to bring it back to life in another spot.
Who else loves it: The flowers attract early pollinators, including little carpenter bees, cuckoo bees and various Halictid bees.
One last tip: When choosing plants, look for ones that match your yard’s light and moisture conditions. As hardy as they are, many natives need to be in the right spots to thrive (though some will have a party just about anywhere). Also be on the lookout for affordable deals, such as bulk offers on small plugs for grasses and perennials or special sales of bareroot trees and shrubs. Young plants can grow into mature specimens just as quickly as older ones, and buying more than one will help you create more cohesive, natural plantings for wildlife.
Happy gardening!