Weekly Green Tip

The importance of using native plants in your home landscape cannot be over emphasized.  90% of all insects that eat plants require native plants to complete their development. That is because plants protect their leaves with toxic chemicals. Insects can survive after eating those chemicals only after they have evolved physiological mechanisms for detoxifying them. This requires a long evolutionary history between insects and their host plants. Native insects only have such histories with native plants. They have not been exposed to plants that evolved in Europe or Asia long enough to be able to use them as host plants successfully.  Many people plant butterfly bush which is an alien plant. It will provide sector for adult butterflies but no species of butterflies in North America can use it for a host plant.  Milkweed serves as both a host for butterfly larvae as well as a supply of nectar for adults.

The Weekly Green Tip is provided by Michelle Sgarlat.