Hot take: Not every garden needs to be native plants only

I was at a gardening workshop last month and this guy kept going on about how anything non-native is basically trash and you're hurting the environment. He said if you're not planting 100% native species you're doing it wrong. Look, I get that native plants have benefits for local bugs and birds. But I've got a small backyard in Phoenix where the soil is basically rock. My lantana and rosemary have been thriving for 5 years with almost no water. My neighbor's native garden died after two heat waves. I think there's room for both. Some non-native plants are tough as nails and give you year-round color without being invasive. Has anyone else dealt with this pressure to go full native and felt pushed into something that just doesn't work for your specific patch of dirt?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_eva1mo ago

Ugh, that guy sounds exhausting. I've had a similar experience at a garden club meeting where this older lady basically told me my bougainvillea was a sin against nature, like it was personally choking a monarch butterfly to death. Meanwhile, my bougainvillea is the only thing in my yard that didn't crisp up in August, and my native salvia died even with me babying it. I feel you on the soil struggle, Phoenix dirt is basically crushed up parking lot, and sometimes you just need a plant that says "I'm fine" instead of "I require perfect conditions to live.

kevin_carr1mo ago

Look at it from the bugs' perspective though. Your rosemary and lantana are basically a food desert for the caterpillars and specialist bees that evolved alongside the native plants here. I've seen tons of yards where "tough non-natives" slowly spread into the cracks and choke out whatever native seedlings try to pop up. That guy at your workshop was probably too preachy but he's not wrong that the little critters can't just switch to eating Mediterranean herbs when their host plants disappear.