less work

Most suburban gardens are labor intensive. If you have a lawn, either you or the gardener is maintaining it on a weekly routine of mowing. And that's when everything is going right. Otherwise you have to worry about brown patches developing, keeping it watered, reseeding and aerating and ... the list goes on. And then there is the raking to be done whenever the trees and shrubs decide to drop their leaves. With the native plant garden, leaf litter is part of the natural cycle; you are more than welcome to let the leaves stay right where they are. If they are covering your walkway, then brush them aside, but no need to gather them all up for weekly collection.

Pruning is kept down to a minimum. Your native plants will reach their mature sizes and you may only have to prune a couple of times a year, unlike a lot of the common shrubs that need to be continuously cut back.

As mentioned in a previous entry, you don't have to strain yourself trying to change the composition of the soil to make it just right for some exotic. You will actually want to keep it in as natural state as possible. Even land that has been scraped and compacted can be brought back to a more natural state. Initially, that bane of all gardeners, weeding, is perhaps more labor intensive when first installing a native plant garden; in this case, you are trying to reestablish the proper balance of soil to plant. But once the natural system is working properly, weeds will have a harder time moving back in.

And not only will you have cut down on how much time you will have to work in the garden (and consequently, you'll have more time to spend simply observing and enjoying your garden), you will also save money. No more spending on lawn upkeep, no more trips to the store to pick up fertilizers and insecticides. A reduced water bill. No more worrying about keeping all of the sprinklers working properly, and if you are starting fresh, you won't even have to install an elaborate irrigation system in the first place. According to some experts, drip irrigation is also bad for your plants. When first establishing your native plant garden, supplemental watering is only necessary the first season or two, but after that, the plant communities will take care of themselves.

Don't plant exotic invasives; keeping them in check is also expensive, both in terms of labor as well as cost. The ivy that many people plant out of habit will eventually get out of bounds and run rampant unless strictly cut back. It can ruin fences, walls, and take over other garden beds. Other plants that are beautiful to look at and are planted innocently enough can become nightmares to the gardener. French broom is notorious for taking over not only your own garden, but your neighbor's garden, and also open space. There may be a system of checks and balances for them where they originated, but they can wreak havoc on native plant communities. Of course, not all plants are invasive, but this increased awareness is always helpful, no matter how you garden.