Wildlife Habitat & Native Plants

Resources
PictureMonarch nectaring on native milkweed.
​Native plant appreciation is growing across the country, as the “backyard restoration” movement is making people more aware of the value of native plants to pollinators, birds, and other wildlife as well as their generally low maintenance requirements. Native plants are normally better suited to local soils and do not require as much care, pesticides or watering as introduced plants.
 
A yard with seventy percent or more native plants is needed to produce enough caterpillars for a breeding pair of songbirds. Native plants can be a plentiful source of insects and caterpillars while non-native plants usually produce none or very few. Native trees, such as oaks, can support as many as 534 species of caterpillars, the main food source for breeding songbirds. 
Grow plants that wildlife feed on normally  
PictureSolidago/Goldenrod
Plant:
  • Trees such as Eastern Redcedar, Pine, Oak, and understory trees or shrubs like Serviceberry, Redbud, and Dogwood.
  • Ground plants like sunflowers, coneflowers, and asters. Asclepias species (milkweed), Aster species, Solidago species (goldenrod) are especially inviting to a large variety of insects such as butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles, flies, bugs, grasshoppers, dragon flies, fireflies, and walking sticks.
  • Cardinal Flower and Trumpet Honeysuckle are just a few of the plants that attract Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.
  • Birds are attracted to Partridgeberry, Blueberry bushes, Virginia Sweetspire and Red Chokeberry and more!

Select plant varieties that have staggered fruit and seed production to allow for a continuous food supply when possible.
Benefits to Wildlife
Butterflies common to Virginia Beach that benefit from native plants:
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Snouts (Libytheinae)
American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)
True Brushfoots (Nymphalinae)
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)
Baltimore (Euphydryas phaeton)
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
Compton Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum)
Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma)
​Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)
Northern Crescent (Phyciodes cocyta)
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon)
Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis)
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)
Tawny Crescent (Phyciodes batesii)
​Many other animals also benefit from native/pollinator plants: moths, bees, wasps, beetles, flies, true bugs, grasshoppers and/or walking sticks, frogs, turtles, bats, fireflies and more!

Best practices for wildlife gardening:
A diverse habitat supports greater wildlife diversity by supplying a variety of plant types, layers, and edges that provide cover from weather and predators, food resources and places to raise young. Habitat loss is the predominant factor adversely affecting wildlife populations today.
 
To extend the availability of food, delay removing flower seed heads until early spring or grow a meadow garden that can be left relatively undisturbed for a season or more. Leave branches and twigs on the ground to provide nesting sites for bugs and insects.

Avoid the use of pesticides whenever possible
Many of the pesticides that protect turf and ornamental plants from insects and diseases can kill pollinators when applied to actively flowering plants. Some insecticides not only kill insects on contact, but the plants can also take up the insecticide and distribute the chemical throughout its plant tissues. These “systemic” insecticides include neonicotinoids, the most widely used group.
  • Pesticides include a wide range of substances labeled herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, and fungicides.
  • Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides that are cited as a primary threat to pollinators and other beneficial insects.
  • Pollinators are essential for the reproduction of many native plant species and to the production of food crops on farms and in gardens.
  • You can help pollinators by avoiding pesticide use when possible and using alternative pest control.
  • If you must use pesticides, it is important to read and follow label instructions and avoid direct application of pesticides where pollinators frequently visit.
  • Some large chain stores are responding to public interest and demand by either phasing out or eliminating the sale of plants treated with neonicotinoids. Ask your local garden centers and nurseries about the pesticides that are used to produce the plants they sell.

Additional Methods of Alternative Pest Control Include:
  • Encourage insects that eat pest species, often called natural enemies, to visit your garden.
  • Regularly survey your garden to look for pests and their eggs. Manually eliminate pest adults, eggs, or pupae by putting them in soapy water or crushing them.
  • Use natural chemical control such as pheromones and hormones to disrupt the pest’s normal behavior and stop it from coming to your yard to mate or eat.
  • Most plant problems are caused by environmental and cultural factors, such as weather extremes, compacted soil, poor location or installation, crowding, winter injury, and over-mulching. Yet insects and diseases usually get the blame! 
  • First and foremost, select varieties of plants that are more naturally resistant to a pest. 

If you decide to use a Pesticide, follow these tips to reduce risks to Beneficial Insects:
  • Select the least toxic product and avoid broad-spectrum pesticides that target a wide range of insects. (PDF)The Xerces Society provides a reference sheet  to help you determine the general toxicity level of common pesticides.
  • Select products listed by the Organic Manufacturers Research Institute (OMRI) or are on EPA’s Reduced Risk list whenever possible.
  • Carefully read and follow label directions.
  • Avoid spraying open flowers.
  • Spray in the evening when fewer pollinators are active.
  • Wear protective clothing and gloves.

Pollinators can pick up neonicotinoids from treated plants by ingesting the following:
  • Nectar and pollen from flowers.
  • Honeydew excreted by aphids and other sucking insects feeding on plants.
  • Water droplets pushed out of plant leaves and stems at night (guttation).
Creating Inviting Habitats
Attracting Birds with Native Plants
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​Native Plants for Southeast Virginia
Year Round Plantings for Pollinators
Attracting Birds with Native Plants
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
​Protecting Pollinators
Additional Resources
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