Here Are The Best Native Plants For Gardens In McLean

Planting season, as gardeners in McLean know, is officially upon us. And before you dig out those dusty trowels and gloves, take note of the plants that naturally grow in the area. We’re talking about native plants, which grew here long before Europeans started building settlements. They’re the foundation of the region’s biodiversity, and provide key food sources and shelter to birds.

Fortunately the folks at the National Audubon Society have done all the hard work to ensure gardeners have what they need to find the best native plants. The group has a database that includes perennials, shrubs, grasses, succulents, trees, vines and evergreens. Each entry also details what types of birds the plants attract.

The database allows users to filter results by plant type, resources and bird species they attract.
Regional Audubon experts hand-select the “best results” for each. In McLean, some of the best flowers to grow this season include the Allegheny Monkey Flower, Canadian Lily, Great Blue Lobelia and Butterfly Milkweed, which is attractive to the Monarch butterfly.

Here’s a roundup of some other great local options:

• Allegheny Serviceberry
  • This plant blooms in the early summer before producing berries.
  • Birds they attract: Wrens, mockingbirds & thrashers, wood warblers, woodpeckers,
• American Black Elderberry
  • This shrub grows white flowers in the summer and purple-black berries in the late summer and fall.
  • Birds they attract: Woodpeckers, crows & jays, orioles, waxwings, thrushes, mockingbirds & thrashers
• American Holly
  • Often used as Christmas decor, holly grows red berries that are poisonous to humans but eaten by different birds and mammals.
  • Birds they attract: Cardinals & grosbeaks, waxwings, vireos, sparrows, mockingbirds & thrashers, nuthatches
• Black Raspberry
  • Black raspberry shrubs provide food for birds and mammals, as well as nesting materials for bees.
  • Birds they attract: Vireos, thrushes, chickadees & titmice, nuthatches, wood warblers, mockingbirds & thrashers
• Highbush Blueberry
  
  • This shrub makes bell-shaped flowers followed by edible fruit in late July to the middle of August.
  • Birds they attract: Mockingbirds & thrashers, thrushes, crows & jays, waxwings, sparrows, cardinals & grosbeaks

These plants are key resources for birds and are relatively easy to grow. Perhaps just as importantly, many are available at local native plant nurseries, which the organization also lists. Here are some nearby:

• Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, 11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Suite 100, Reston, VA 20190
• Nature By Design: 300 Calvert Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22301
• Greenstreet Gardens, 1721 West Braddock Road Alexandria, VA 22302
• Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery, 10123 Commonwealth Boulevard Fairfax, VA 22032

Americans spent a record $47.8 billion on lawn and garden retail sales in 2017, according to the National Gardening Survey. The average household spent more than $500 on gardening. And while older adults accounted for 35 percent of all gardeners, millennials were getting their hands and knees dirty at all-time high levels. Adults 18-34 accounted for 29 percent of all gardeners, the survey found.

Among the recent trends — more people are investing in raised beds as opposed to digging holes, and they’re spending money on apps rather than glossy gardening books.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.