A NOT-FOR-PROFIT MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION

*  "Native plants are adapted to the local climate, soil and hydrology conditions where they naturally occur. These important plant species provide nectar, pollen, and seeds that serve as food for native butterflies, insects, birds and other animals."   --U.S. Forest Service 

*   "Plants native to an area are more likely to establish quickly and will naturally be hardy and healthy. Native plants have evolved over thousands of years, learning to thrive in particular areas—they grow in harmony with the environment, the soil, the water supply, the varying weather throughout all the seasons, and other native companions. Their root systems are deep, sometimes up to 15 feet, and acclimated to the soil, be it clay or sand, and average precipitation, whether it is high or low. Their stems and leaves can handle harsh sun or buffeting winds, for example, if that is the nature of the local environment. They are also part of a larger natural ecosystem."  

                         --American Society of Landscape Architects

*  "We have planted Kousa dogwood, a species from China that supports no insect herbivores, instead of our native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) that supports 117 species of moths and butterflies alone. On hundreds of thousands of acres we have planted Asian goldenraintrees, ginkgos, burning bushes, barberries, autumn olives, privets, bush honeysuckles, Callery pears, Miscanthus, and dozens of other foreign ornamentals instead of our beautiful oaks, hickories, cherries, basswoods, elms, and others, and we have thereby lost the chance to support thousands of species of caterpillars, the most nutritious bird food available."    

                       -- Ecologist Doug Tallamy