The Myth of Nativity

Nonnative plumbago (Plumbago auriculata)

This may seem sacrilegious to a great many who read this, but I believe that there is a somewhat dangerous dogma being promulgated these days about the almost-holiness of being a native plant in a landscape designed for living creatures such as pollinators and birds. I find it to be very short-sighted on the surface. Every day on social media sites devoted to life in landscapes I read posts and comments targeted at native vs nonnative plants where virtually the only thing being considered is whether a plant is native or not; the concept that being native somehow confers a special quality that must be embraced. I find this disquieting because it ignores the real issue - that being, "what role will this plant play in one's overall goals?"  When Dr. Tallamy published his seminal book, Bringing Nature Home, he gave all of us words to ponder regarding the impact that nonnative landscapes have had on indigenous wildlife. It was, and is, an important first step, but I believe that its simplicity of message has done a disservice to the overall movement. It is not nativity that is the most important issue, but the plant's ecological role. Not all plants are created equal and not all native plants are superior to all nonnative ones.

I have come to this realization over the 30+ years that I have been involved in the native plant movement and the movement to create what I term to be "living landscapes."  In my earliest years as an urban wildlife biologist in Florida, I may have expounded the very simplified message that Dr. Tallamy has presented us with. After all, simple messages are often the most compelling and the easiest to get across to others. It makes absolute sense that native wildlife have evolved in native plant landscapes and that the traditional nonnative landscapes so common around us have hurt the ability of wildlife to thrive. No one could argue this. It is a fact and it requires us then to consider how best to correct this.  

The problem with simple messages, however, is that they are too simple.  It is true that a great many nonnative plants are anathema to supporting local fauna. The examples he provides in his book and talks are good and powerful ones. The problem is that there are other examples that don't fit that model and he ignores them. Simply being "native" does not confer some magical healing property to a plant any more than being nonnative makes it evil.  We need to think a bit more critically if we are to have a real impact on human-designed landscapes.  Natural areas should be natural and contain only those elements that should naturally be there. That includes the "invasion" of native plants into plant communities where they do not naturally occur. Oaks invade a great many uplands in Florida only because of past fire suppression. If left alone, they will inexorably alter a plant community and the wildlife it should support - but land managers faced with exterminating oaks from certain types of pine uplands and savannas are often faced with great public outcry.  Cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto) are not native to a great many uplands in Florida, naturally, but they have crept in and sometimes dominate systems where they are not "natural."  These examples, and a great many others I could mention, are serious concerns for preserving the integrity of native plant communities; not "bad plants", but the wrong ones in those places.

What Dr. Tallamy (and myself) have focused on, however, are the vast acres of developed landscapes where major changes have occurred in the plant palette and where the original elements of the once-native plant community have been obliterated in favor of aesthetics over function. Here is where the battle for life in landscapes is really being fought, and it's an important one.  Most of us don't have native plant communities existing in our personal landscapes, surrounding our homes and work places.  We have turf grass and exotics chosen for their aesthetics. That is true everywhere I've lived, but seems especially more so here in Florida. In my new neighborhood, I am surrounded by a virtual desert for living creatures. Many of my neighbors have simply replaced their turf with gravel.where nothing can survive. The others have weedy lawns and scattered nonnative trees and shrubs that nothing uses except perhaps to perch on as they pass through. When I moved to this home almost 4 years ago, I had to make a great many decisions on what I would plant and what I would replace. So far, things have worked out pretty well.

The first step was to consider what was already here and what was not. There are several mature live oaks (Quercus virginiana) in the adjacent yard. There was no need to add more. There were a couple of red cedars (Juniperus virginiana) as well.  There is all the Spanish needle (Bidens alba) anyone could want in the vacant lots and road edges near me. The world around me does not need more dogfennel (Eupatorium capillifolium) or mare's tail (Conyza canadensis).  My need was to add in the missing elements that have a defined role that were also missing.  It was not a question of keeping "native" plants and weeding nonnative ones; it was about adding in missing elements and eradicating those plants taking up space that did not have a role to play in my landscape concept.  I added in as many butterfly and moth host plants that I could that also were not present around me and I added in woody plants for songbirds that produced fruit and other foods. I have a typical small plot of land to work with. There is no space for plants that do not play an important role, native or otherwise. 

Into this new landscape of mine, I have also added some nonnative plants on purpose. The nonnative plumbago feeds the caterpillars of Cassius blue butterflies and I've found it to be superior to the somewhat weedy native species that I once used.  I have added a nonnative pipevine (Aristolochia spp.) that both species of pipevine swallowtails can use to raise their offspring with. At my latitude, I have found it impossible to do this with pipevines native to Florida. I have a key lime that feeds me and the giant swallowtails. It is too simple a concept to believe that all nonnative plants are bad or that pollinators, birds and other wildlife have not "evolved" enough to use them. While that may be true for many, it is not a universal truth. 

If we are to be truly successful in creating landscapes that support the living world around us, we need to choose plants with an ecological purpose - a purpose we've specifically designed for up front.  To do this, we need to take the time to understand what it is we are trying to accomplish and we then need to choose plants for their attributes first and foremost. Their nativity is not nearly as important as their role.  Most of what I have added is native, but it was not nativity that drove my plan.  Some of  the "native" plants I have added are not native to my region of Florida and some would argue that even these are not truly native. None of those arguments sway me in what I have planted here and I don't believe they should influence others either. Function over nativity is the most important decision we make and choosing those with the most function over those that have marginal value is important as well.