Photo: Native plants at a garden center, Margaret Fisher
Eileen Ellsworth
Are you hunting for a particular native plant, shrub, or tree? Any native plant seller near you is a terrific place to shop. A list of native plant sellers can be found on the Plant NOVA Natives website. Browsing a commercial garden center is also an option, so long as you understand how to read plant labels.
Finding natives in commercial garden centers can be challenging. Plant labels, excepting those that Plant NOVA Native volunteers have already tagged in red as “Native,” rarely offer much information and use terms that can be confusing. Here are some definitions and tips to help you find exactly what the biodiversity of the region needs.
Plant label definitions:
It’s helpful to group plant label terms into two groups: those pertaining to nature-made and those pertaining to human-made plants.
Nature-Made:
A straight species is a 100% nature-made group of similar plants that can interbreed and reproduce by seed.
A natural hybrid occurs in nature without human intervention between two native species.
A variety or form arises within one native species as a genetic mutation and causes certain distinctive traits to appear.
Human-made:
A cultivar is a strain of a specific, individual plant that growers produce in bulk for its desired commercial quality. These are usually (though not always) propagated from cuttings, which means that they are clones of each other. The name of the cultivar will be in single quotes, such as Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm.’
A human-made hybrid or hybrid grouping is an individual plant or class of plants created by growers by crossing one species with another. They arise from similar yet complex breeding lines that all share a “hybrid” status. The scientific name on the label will include an “x” to designate hybrid status. It can be quite difficult to determine the exact lineage.
Buying tips:
Given the above terms, here are some tips on understanding plant labels before buying.
If the label provides the scientific name of a locally native species, including the genus and species, such as Monarda didyma), then this is the best choice for the local ecosystem. You can double check if a species is locally native by referencing the free Virginia Botanical Associates' Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora, which will not only advise if the plant is native to Virginia, but to northern Virginia as well. It could be the straight species, which is the most beneficial of all, or it could be a cultivar. If it is a cultivar, then it is a particular individual plant that the grower has cultivated in bulk by cloning for commercial sale. They are chosen for traits like size, color, resistance to mildew, etc. Cultivars differ from the straight native species. If the difference is only size, the cultivar will probably support wildlife well. But if the cultivar has altered the structure or color of flowers, native bees can’t access its nectar or perhaps recognize them as a source of food and shelter. Sometimes a cultivar changes the leaf color to red or purple, which also alters the plant’s chemistry. This can make them unsuitable as larval hosts for the butterflies, moths, and other insects that evolved to depend upon them. It’s best to use cultivars in locations distant from natural areas and only choose those that have not altered the straight native’s flower structure or color, fruit size, or leaf color.
If the label provides the name of a hybrid (with an X), then it is a cross between species, and the human-made version is not native, meaning you’re risking the introduction of a non-native species into the region. As you can see from the plant label definitions above, hybrids can arise in nature or be man-made. But commercial garden centers sell human-made hybrids because their growers want controlled uniformity and protection for their intellectual property. These plants must be cloned as they do not produce seeds, and only plants grown from seeds create genetic diversity and improve species resistance to climate change and other environmental stressors. Human-made hybrids will not improve the biodiversity of your property.
If the label provides only a brand name, then research would be needed online to figure out what it really is. It could be a cultivar or a hybrid.
The Plant NOVA Natives website has more information about plant label terms and buying tips. And you can always download our excellent Guide to Northern Virginia’s native plants to refine your shopping list of beautiful, straight-native plants.