‘Step-by-Step’ Native Garden
Garden Creation Process
Whether you replace a plant, a small garden bed, or rejuvenate your entire landscape, every native plant you add makes a positive environmental impact. These are the key steps in creating a native plant-inclusive garden.
1. Evaluate
The first step is also the most important — understanding your site.
Determine:
- How much space you have
- How much sun and shade the area receives
- Whether your soil is sandy, clay, or loamy
- Whether it drains quickly or holds moisture
Nothing influences your success more than matching your plants to your site’s conditions.
2. Specify
Create a list of plant characteristics based on your site’s conditions.
Be certain to consider:
- Amount of sun and shade over the course of the day
- Soil type and moisture
- Preferred colors
- Plant form (habit)
- Desired maintenance level
Although most native plants require little care, some spread vigorously and may need occasional management.
3. Research and Select
Books, e-books, botanical gardens, native plant nurseries, and educational websites all provide valuable information on native plants. Particularly useful are online databases that let you search for plants based on your location and site conditions (see Native Plant Resources).
Visit nurseries and public gardens featuring native plants to discover what plants appeal to you, combinations you enjoy, and better understand what’s possible.
4. Design
Develop a planting plan based on mature plant size, bloom time, flower color, and plant form.
You can sketch your design, use online templates, and/or try digital planning sources and tools. Homegrownnationalpark.org is at the top of our list as it provides excellent tools and in-depth information. Native Garden Planner.com can be helpful to create a design once you have an idea of what you want.
AI design tools can also help, although less expensive versions may overlook important site considerations or unnecessarily complicate the process. Native plant nurseries often provide basic design assistance. Particularly if you are planning a large area, you might consider engaging a landscape professional to plan it for you or with you.
Planning should be enjoyable and educational. The more thought you invest, the more satisfying your garden will be.
5. Foundational Design Guidelines
Designing a native garden is a little different than planning a highly-ordered ornamental garden with mostly non-natives. While some design guidelines are similar, consider that there is no better designer than nature herself...
Some plants will expand in place and/or move by self-seeding or spreading underground, forming colonies. Nature optimizes what you've given her, so species suited to your particular set of conditions will persist; others will gradually diminish. Suitable plants will compete and coexist, filling different layers and niches. Wildlife becomes part of the process: insects will pollinate flowers and consume foliage, birds and mammals will eat and disperse seeds; leaf and plant litter will shelter overwintering insects, and decomposers will return nutrients to the soil.
It's a joy to facilitate and watch this process.
That said, you can impose a basic design structure that pleases you. If you've chosen the right plants, nature will indulge you, and offer some delightful surprise. Here are a few design tips:
- Plant in drifts of at least three for visual impact for you, and to help pollinators locate flowers
- Place taller plants toward the back of beds and shorter plants in front
- Include both warm and cool flower colors to attract a wide variety of pollinators
- Don't forget to consider foliage colors and forms, not just bloom color
These are the colors that pollinators prefer:
Bees: blue, purple, violet, yellow, white
Butterflies: red, yellow, orange, pink, purple
Hummingbirds: bright red, pink, orange
6. Source
Although demand for native plants continues to grow, retail nurseries still focus primarily on non-native ornamentals. Therefore, some native species can be difficult to find.
To avoid frustration, consider plant availability early in your planning, order ahead from native plant suppliers, build alternatives into your plan, and check online plant availability lists. Here’s a list of local native plant growers: ______________
7. Install
- Prepare the planting area by removing existing turf or weeds.
- Consider planting in early morning or late afternoon, when transplantation is less stressful for plants.
Dig a hole two to three times wider than the root ball but no deeper than the container. Loosen the roots before placing the plant into the hole to encourage them to spread into the surrounding soil.
- Consider adding mycorrhizal fungi to the root zone to improve nutrient uptake and root establishment.
- If you plan to use mulch, position the plant’s root collar—the point where the roots become the stem—slightly above the surrounding soil level. When 1.5- 2 inches of mulch is added, the plant will be at the ideal level.
- Water thoroughly and immediately start the water schedule below.
8. Care
- Water new plants three times a week for their first four weeks unless rainfall provides at least one inch of water in a week. After that, let nature do most of the work - water only during extended dry periods.
- Use mulch if you want to retain soil moisture, especially in the first season. (Ensure the mulch chosen does not include chemical dyes or additives.) This can be very helpful if you have dry soil and/or a windy site. Keep mulch at least 2 inches away from the stem to prevent stem rot. Over time, plants will fill out and mulch may not be required - this depends on your site’s conditions and your watering approach.
- Limit deadheading. Leave seed pods on your plants as food for wildlife, and to encourage self-seeding.
- Leave stems and fallen leaves in place over the winter in plant beds - they provide habitat for beneficial insects, food for birds, and provide organic matter that enriches the soil.
9. Observe and Enjoy
Natives given the right site and enough water to get established tend to become self-sufficient quickly. You'll be rewarded with plants that stretch out for you. Early on you will also notice an increase in the number and type of pollinators that are visiting your garden - enjoy the buzz, and keep learning.
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