Grass turf is only the first step in making your commercial property and its grounds look its best. Adding more color, fragrance, and texture by adding native plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers will make your property look more inviting. Here are a few suggestions why choosing landscaping native to Maryland is beneficial for your property. (Information from University of Maryland Extension)
Preserve DMV’s Biodiversity – When you include a plant in your garden, you impact the natural areas near your property. Your garden plant cross-pollinates with wild plants, and may even disperse seeds or berries into natural areas. When the plant you have included is locally native, your garden actually benefits wild plant populations, pollinators and songbirds.
Support Pollinators – Research shows that using native plants is the best way to create a haven for pollinators such as native bees and butterflies. Native plants can also attract insects that are beneficial to the health of the rest of your garden. Over millennia, native insects and native plants have co-evolved and reached an intricate balance. Many insects can only eat the plants they co-evolved with.
Support Song Birds – Native plants provide the abundance of seeds, berries, and habitat required for our native bird species to thrive. In addition, native plants are responsible for supporting robust native insect populations that are fed on by song birds. (Native Plants > Insect Population > Strong Song Bird Population)
Recommended Native Landscaping For MD, DC & VA
Native Groundcovers: Pussytoes, golden groundsel
Ferns: Sensitive Fern, Christmas Fern
Native Grasses, Sedges & Rushes: Blue Sedge, Wool Grass, Little Bluestem, Yellow Iniangrass
Native Wildflowers: Pussytoes, Eastern Columbine, butterfly weed, Joe Pye Wee, Turk’s Cap Lily, Cardinal Flower, Great Blue Loelia, Golden Groundsel, Black-Eyed Susan
Shrubs: Rose Mallow, Hillside Blueberry
Trees: Blackgum, White Oak
