Native Plants

Grow Native

Why Native Plants?

Native plants are beautiful and come in a kaleidoscope of colors and a variety of sizes and shapes to fit any yard, garden, patio or window box.

Native plants provide essential food and shelter for local birds, pollinators and other wildlife to survive and thrive.

Native plants are healthier for you and the environment. Once established, they require little or no fertilizer and no harmful chemicals, they don’t need mowing and they use far less water than lawns and ornamental plants

Beware of Invasives and Imposters

What’s the difference between a butterfly weed and a butterfly bush?

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is a native milkweed with brilliant orange flowers that is one of the best nectar sources for numerous pollinators and a host plant for the Monarch butterfly.

Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) is a shrub with purple or white flowers native to China and is an invasive species in Maryland and many other states. No American butterfly caterpillars can use it as a host plant food source. Yes, some adult butterflies will sip its nectar, but the nectar has little nutritional value— akin to humans eating candy.

Invasives are plants that are not native to a specific region. They often are garden escapees that can out-compete and displace native plants. Because they did not develop in the local eco-system, invasive plants have no nutritional value and can create food deserts for most native birds and insects.

A single pair of breeding chickadees needs to find 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to raise one clutch of young. A native white oak tree is host to 557 different species of butterflies and moths. The non-native ginkgo tree supports just five.

Charles County Master Gardener "All the Dirt" Native Plant Series

All the Dirt on Native Seed Collecting

Join Charles County Master Gardeners Molly Moore and Marlene Smith in this recorded presentation as they introduce 10 simple steps to ethical native seed collecting, and share their personal experiences. You can download and view the PowerPoint Presentation.
All the Dirt on Winter Sowing Native Plants

Join Charles County Master Gardeners Molly Moore and Marlene Smith in this recorded presentation as they introduce 10 simple steps to winter sowing native plants, and share their personal experiences.

Dr. Douglas W. Tallamy, entomologist and wildlife ecologist, is revolutionizing how we garden.

Bringing Nature Home

How to support birds, butterflies and other wildlife with native plants in your own backyard and community.
Nature's Best Hope

A new approach to conservation that starts in your yard.
Creating a Homegrown National Park

Turning your garden, your block, your town into part of a grand new national park nearly as big as 10 Yellowstones.

Resources

University of Maryland Extension State Native Plants

Maryland Department of Natural Resources: Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants -This list of rare, threatened, and endangered plants is made periodically with the most recent list from 2019. This page provides the lists separated by county and details the conservation status rank and State legal status as well as fact sheets.

What is a Native Plant?

Why Include Native Plants in Your Garden?

Native Plants and Climate Change

All the Dirt on Winter Sowing Native Plants - Join Charles County Master Gardeners Molly Moore and Marlene Smith in this recorded presentation of their live workshop held on January 7, 2023, at our extension office in Bel Alton. They cover the “what and why” of native plants, share their 10 simple steps to winter sowing, and share their personal experiences with native plant gardens.

You can also view and download the PowerPoint Presentation.

Native Plants for Shade

Native Plants for Shady Slopes

Deer Resistant Native Plant List

Native Plants for Meadows in Maryland's Coastal Plain

Cultivars of Native Plants

Gardens to Attract Butterflies

Plant This Not That

Native Ground Covers for Sun and Shade

Native Plants of Maryland

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Landscaping with Native Plants

Native Plants for Northern Virginia

Chesapeake Bay Native Plant Center

Native Plants of North America

Ecoregional Revegetation Application (ERA) - ERA Exhaustive native plant database with downloadable spreadsheet that includes growth rate, propagation, pollination value, pollinators (Southern Maryland is Region 65, Southeastern plains)

Maryland Plant Atlas - The Maryland Plant Atlas aims to provide accurate information regarding native and naturalized plants of Maryland based on the Wesley Knapp and Robert Naczi checklist Vascular Plants of Maryland (2021). They keep up-to-date information and provide a list of changes to the checklist since publication.

Audubon Native Plants Database

Maryland Biodiversity Project

Missouri Botanical Garden

Chesapeake Natives, Inc.: Promoting, Protecting and Propagating Plants Native to the Chesapeake Region - Non-profit that sells only Maryland native plants.

Maryland Native Plant Society: The Maryland Native Plant Society provides a list of nurseries and vendors who sell native plants as well as a list of upcoming native plant sales.

Environmental Concerns Nursery

Nurture Natives: A Guide to Invasive Species and their Native Look-Alikes

Bad Plants Planted by Good People

Maryland Invasive Plants Prevention and Control

USDA Forest Service: Plants & Animals

Invasive Species of Concern in Maryland

USDA National Invasive Species Information Center