Why Native Plants Matter:
Boosting Biodiversity on Your Urban Balcony
Native plants are the cornerstone of a healthy ecosystem. In this post, we explore why they matter and how they can enhance biodiversity even in urban settings. From supporting local pollinators to creating a balanced environment, discover the vital role native plants play and how you can incorporate them into your balcony garden.
What Does ‘Native Plant’ Mean?
Native plants are plants naturally present in ‘wild’ plant communities in a particular area that are originally a part of the local ecosystem. Plants can be native to a country, a smaller bioregion, or to an even smaller, much more specific locale.
When we talk about incorporating native plants on an urban balcony or terrace, we are typically talking about plants native to the broader bioregion that will do well in the specific environmental conditions that particular balcony or terrace can provide.
The Benefits of Native Planting
Native plants should account for a high proportion of the planting in an eco-friendly urban space. By choosing the right native plants, we can bring a range of benefits for ourselves, our families, and the other creatures who share our space.
An Environmental Match
The first thing to remember is that native plants have evolved in a specific area over time. This means that they have gradually adapted to the specific environmental conditions in that area. As plants propagate and there are successive generations, plants alter to better suit the growing conditions.
In any garden, success depends on selecting the right plants for the right places. We must match the needs of the plants with the growing conditions that we can provide. Native plants are often those best suited to the growing conditions, since they have evolved in those conditions over a period of time.
Resilient Plant Communities
Well-adapted native plants are entirely at home. They have, over time, become integral to complex plant communities, and entire ecosystems in the area. They have well-known neighbours and have formed many beneficial interactions with other native plants alongside which they frequently grow.
Native plants are integral parts of healthy local ecosystems. They work in harmony with the plants and other life around them, bringing balance and stability to wild areas and to the gardens we create.
Whenever we create new garden areas, even in cities, we need to think about natural balance and how that can be created, enhanced and maintained.
The more healthy connections there are in a garden, the more stable and resilient that garden will be. The resilient plant communities to which native plants contribute are more likely to stand the test of time.
Wonderful for Wildlife
Native plants have not only evolved in local ecosystems alongside other plants. They have also evolved alongside native wildlife. As plants and animals evolve together in a healthy natural system, they develop many beneficial interactions with one another.
Native plants provide native wildlife with places for procreation and shelter, a range of food sources, and more.
They help urban gardeners contribute to efforts to halt biodiversity losses and bring a range of beneficial wildlife to urban spaces. Attracting beneficial native wildlife can help ensure successful pollination and aid in organic pest control.
Selecting the Right Native Plants for Your Urban Balcony
The great news is that you don’t need a large garden to grow native plants. Even small urban balconies can host native wildflowers in pots and planters.
Ready to get started? Begin by selecting a few native species suited to your balcony’s conditions. Check these resources to find out what’s native in your area:
