5 Reasons to Go Native in Your Garden
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
While we're all tuned into buying local, shopping local, and staycationing local... we've overlooked a simple, cost-effective and earth-friendly way to stock our gardens: with Rhode Island native plants.
And you've got help on this front: the Rhody Native initiative works with local nurseries to increase the supply of locally sourced native plants and encourage gardeners to create sustainable landscapes that reflect the local flora. The Rhode Island Natural History Survey and the University of Rhode Island started the project to promote biodiversity and provide business opportunities for local nurseries.
This year, a number of plant species will be available for sale in local garden centers, with more available next year. Nursery growers will be invited to participate in a fall/winter training program to learn the process of native plant propagation, from seed collection in Rhode Island’s wild places to sales and marketing. And consumers can look for the Rhode Native logo to know if they're buying a native plant grown locally.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSo, what are the Top 5 reasons you need to go native? Vanessa Venturini, environmental education coordinator for the URI Learning Landscape Program, has the list:
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