Forest Preserve Presents: A Crash Course On Native Gardening

If you’ve been yearning to get into the native plant game, the Forest Preserve District of Will County has the information you need to get started.

“A Crash Course on Creating a Native Plant Garden” will air online at noon Tuesday, August 25, on the Forest Preserve’s Facebook page.

Interpretive naturalist Kate Caldwell will give you the basics on introducing native species into your home landscape. Swapping out some – or all – of your yard’s grassy monoculture in favor of natives is a good step toward improving the environment, Caldwell explained.

“Biodiversity is a win-win because the multiple plant colors, bloom times and heights give you great satisfaction throughout the year,” she said. “And biodiversity allows butterflies, moths, birds, etc. to make the food web stronger and your soil richer and healthier.”

Prairie plants also remove carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and they sequester it in the soil where it can be used by other plants.

During the Facebook Live program, Caldwell will stroll a preserve walkway filled with native species to illustrate how native plants can provides color from spring through August. She will share information on: the benefits of planting native species, the benefits of removing lawn and replacing it with native plants, and tips on maintaining a desired landscape.

Program viewers also will learn which native plants they should buy. For instance, some native species like sun, some like to take over a garden, some are very sensitive and some take time before they “pop” with color.

Layering plants with different bloom times will bring many pleasing weeks of color, Caldwell added. For instance, shooting stars, columbines and geraniums bloom in the spring; purple coneflowers, cardinal flowers, sunflowers and joe pye weeds are summer bloomers; and asters, golden rods and stately prairie grasses are fall flowers.

One of the biggest benefits of growing a native garden is that it frees you from having to use pesticides, she said. While lawns may need chemicals to stay weed-free, native plants don’t need or want chemicals, Caldwell stressed.

“When we use pesticides and fertilizers, we have no control over where they go after they have been applied to the target plants,” she said. “Pesticides leach out of our yards and into our groundwater and therefore get into our drinking water. Along the way, they harm wildlife in our waterways.”

And pesticides kill pollinators and other insects.

“Without our insects and our pollinators, we won’t have plants,” she warned. “Plants need insects and we need plants.”

That is just some of the native plant advice Caldwell will impart during the Facebook presentation. So tune in via your computer or smart device and get ready to be inspired to transform your lawn into a patch of prairie.

During the Facebook Live presentation, questions will be answered in real time. Just post in the comment section under the livestream, which will be pinned to the top of the Forest Preserve's Facebook page.