Eight Urban Myths About Your Curb Appeal

I’ve been invited to Indiana next week to speak to a large group of people from Whole Foods to teach them about the importance of native plants. I’m very excited to go! In preparation, I’ve been re-reading Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy a professor and chair of the Department of Entomology at the University of Delaware. It’s a powerful book and required reading for anyone interested in improving biodiversity in their own yards and for the greater good.

Earlier this month the Mother Nature Network interviewed Mr. Tallamy and published an article called Forget What you Think you Know About Curb Appeal, by Tom Oder. Tallamy knocks down 8 urban myths about what your front yard should look like. Here comes the readers digest version.

Urban legend No. 1: Native plants are messy

“Some people think that to share our landscapes with other species we have to stop mowing our lawns, or give up landscaping altogether,” Tallamy said. “But native landscaping is not the absence of landscaping. Barren lawn is the absence of landscaping.”

My home landscape has formal areas and informal areas like our small meadow and we plant native plants in both. Plants don’t know which category they fall into.

Myth 2: Native plants cannot be used formally

Apparently no one told European gardeners this. Native American plants are used frequently in formal European gardens. They are also used in American gardens such as the Centennial Flower Garden in Denver, which is a replica of the gardens of Versailles. On a recent trip to the Netherlands to look at gardens, I was repeatedly surprised how well and how often Europeans use our native plants.

Myth 3: Dense plantings cannot be attractive

People who have bought into this myth must have never seen a community of plants such as alternate-leaf dogwood, red maple, river birch, silverbell, possumhaw viburnum, shumard oak or coral honeysuckle in bloom, Tallamy said. Using different sized plants from trees to shrubs to perennials makes a much more interesting planting that one less diverse.

Myth 4: Native plants will be destroyed by insects

“Our studies at the University of Delaware have shown that if you build a balanced ecosystem of native plants in your yard, you will actually have less insect damage than landscapes built with introduced plants,” Tallamy said. I definitely agree. I occasionally see a plant that has insect damage but it’s the exception not the rule. And, it rights itself without intervention and is never a problem the following year.

Myth 5: Native plants are not as pretty as non-natives

“Anyone who has ever seen plant communities of Joe Pye weed, cardinal flower, blazing star and black-eyed Susans knows this to be true,” Tallamy said. We have lots of natives and I think our garden is beautiful. I think it especially shines when the weather has been extreme, maybe terribly hot and dry causing so many plants to wither. The natives in our borders don’t skip a beat and look better than anything else.

Myth 6: Native landscapes will be scorned by your neighbors

Why would they scorn an attractive, neat, orderly, low-maintenance, low-expense landscape that can even have a formal appearance while it is holding together the ecosystem that supports them? Our neighbors love our garden and love to stop and talk about our Certified Wildlife Habitat sign. Our mailman thinks we have a zoo in the back yard!

Myth 7: Native plants attract vermin

The vermin that people worry about the most are snakes, Tallamy said. But, he pointed out that his research showed that in 2012 only one person in the United States died from an accidental snakebite whereas many were killed by toasters, chairs and the common cold. I’m not really fond of snakes but I do understand they are a part of any wildlife habitat and have their own part to play in our ecosystem. I see them in early spring when it’s time to mate but rarely after that. We name ours to make them seem less scary.

Myth 8: Native plants are too expensive

It is actually great expanses of lawns that are expensive to maintain. The price point of native plants is right in line with non-natives. In fact, since most growers don’t highlight what’s native, they are all in the same black pot at the same price. You might pay a few cents more for an American Beauties Native Plant but it really is only a few cents. We use that money for education tools like our website and to support the educations efforts of the National Wildlife Federation.

Bringing Life to your Garden

Have fun out there!

Peggy Anne

*All the images are of mixed, native and non-native plantings