Native or Ornamental?

White lady slipper orchids, seen here in their natural habitat in the Canadian Rockies, display a delicate beauty. Orchids have unique environmental needs and should never be moved.

A comment was made recently on one of my posts about checking whether plants are indigenous to your area before purchase. I had mixed feelings about how to respond to this. At face value I really support this point and believe nurturing native plants is a fantastic goal. But I was also conflicted – I love ornamental plants too. Does that mean we shouldn’t have ornamentals in our gardens? I think the answer is far more nuanced than a “like” emoji.

The term indigenous also means native. Native or indigenous plants have evolved in their specific geographic area over hundreds of years. This means they are adapted to the local climate and environment. Native plants provide food and shelter for birds, insects and other animals in their environment. These plants are important to preserve because they hold up ecosystems and the life forms that depend on it, including humans.

Where plants from outside the ecosystem penetrate the area they can cause disruption to soil, waterways, other plants, insects, birds and animals. Incidentally, removing a native plant from its home area can be equally disastrous. Canadian native lady slippers are notoriously picky about their living conditions and trying to move them - even within tens of feet of their native area - can mean death to the plant.

But should all of our garden plants be indigenous? Victorian era plant collectors were at the heart of plant cultivation and greatly contributed to what gardens look like today. Ornamental plants were discovered worldwide and incorporated everywhere from Royal gardens to kitchen gardens. In some cases that had catastrophic effects. Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, and periwinkle, to name just a few, are plants that escaped garden cultivation into wild areas and have had devastating effects on natural spaces.

There have also been hundreds of ornamental plants cultivated across the world without issues. A quick garden tour in your local neighbourhood will probably turn up hundreds of plants that are not native to the region and are contributing pollen to insects, nesting spaces and beauty to those who planted them. I think the key is knowledge and education. Understanding what a native plant is, the needs of those plants and the ecosystem you live in is important. Learning about ornamental plants before you buy them and ensuring they are safe to grow in your area is also important. Growing both native and ornamental plants can be beautiful and satisfying.