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Community Corner

Sustainable Planting: Best for Environment

As planting season approaches, incorporating native shrubs, trees, and perennials offers a host of benefits.

This spring, an ecological option for gardeners is to plant species that are native to the Lake County prairie and savanna landscape.

Sarah Surroz, conservation and outreach manager with Liberty Prairie Conservancy, an organization dedicated to preserving open spaces and restoring natural areas in Lake County, says that using these plants in your own yard is helpful to the environment, your pocket, and your way of life.

“Though there are a lot of hardy perennials on the market, none of them are as successful at survival in the Midwest as those that evolved in the Midwest,” Surroz said. “So native plants are really going to give you the best bang for your buck.”

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According to Surroz, because native species have adapted to the rainfall and insects of the area, they don’t need fertilizer, insecticide, and require little extra watering.

“You need to help water them and weed around them in the first month,” Surroz said. “But then after that, you’re in pretty good shape. You don’t want to fertilize native plants because they’re going to get tall and leggy.”

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Surroz says that with hundreds of plant species that are native to the Lake County area, residents can find natives for shade gardens, sunny areas, privacy fences, or any other place they may want to plant.

“A very popular and easy to establish plant is the Black-eyed Susan,” Surroz said. “It blooms for a long time and has bright yellow daisy like flowers. It’s beautiful. A lot of people pair it with Blazing Star which has tall spikes of purple flowers. The contrast of the two is really lively.”

Other natives that she lists from her own garden are Bluebells, Trillium, native varieties of ferns, and Wild Geranium.

“A fairly common plant that many people begin to use when they start dipping their toes in native plants is the Purple Coneflower,” Surroz said. “They’re gorgeous flowers and they attract a lot of butterflies. “

Surroz explains that attracting wildlife is especially important in Lake County because it has the highest number of threatened and endangered species than anywhere else in Illinois.

“We have lots of wonderful protected areas, but some of these spaces are isolated from each other,” Surroz explained. “Think of a population of butterflies or songbirds, for instance, that has migrated back this time of year. They need to travel from one protected natural area to another, and your property can be a stepping stone.”

In addition to helping wildlife survive and thrive, Surroz explains that planting native species has other ecological benefits.

“Most native plants tend to have really deep root systems,” she said. “Deep roots allow rainfall to penetrate deeply over time, so you’re less likely to get flooding and more likely to build good soil. It’s a nice thing to contribute.”

Surroz says she is not advocating only planting species native to Lake County.

“I don’t want people to think that we want them to get rid of their non-native plants in their gardens,” Surroz said. “They can keep their lilacs and tulips. But when people are creating new flower beds or putting in a new tree, we’d like them to consider native species as well.”

Surroz says that by planting native species, gardeners can bring the forest preserve to their own home, where they can enjoy the beauty of a vast array of wildlife.

“People are very busy these days, and they don’t always have time to take their kids to the forest preserve,” Surroz said. “But you can provide that habitat in your own backyard. You can look out your kitchen window and see a Hummingbird or a Scarlet Tanager.”

Surroz recommends that you ask questions when buying native plants and make sure they’re native to your specific location.

Interested gardeners can find native plants at the Lake County Forest Preserve’s annual native plant sale on May 7 and 8 at Independence Grove, at Earth Wild Gardens in Grayslake, or online.

For more information about Liberty Prairie Conservancy, visit: www.libertyprairie.org.

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