NATIVES LINK GARDENERS TO MORE THAN JUST BEAUTIFUL PLANTS
BY BOB DAILEY NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF TEXAS PINES AND PRAIRIES CHAPTER
Thousands of beautiful native plant species once covered Texas. They provided food, nectar, pollen and seeds for butterflies, honeybees, 700 species of native bees, and over 600 species of birds.
Increases in population and urbanization, as well as other causes, have significantly cut into the land in which these plants thrived. This is changing, as Texas homeowners, businesses and industrial facilities now recognize not only the beauty of these plants in the landscape, but also their value to vital species of insects and birds. Nurseries are taking note of that increased interest and have begun propagating native plants to meet those needs.
