On the North American native forum (this one), native is generally considered to be a plant that was here before widespread European settlement (prior to 1492, I guess).

Some people apply the native moniker more strictly and plant only plants that are indigenous to the region of the US in which they reside (e.g., a particular plant is indigenous to the Pacific Northwest but is not to the Southeast region).

Here is a link to the USDA plants database which is helpful in providing an "origin" indicator. If you click on the base name (like "Cornus" for dogwood), it also provides you regional maps for each type of Cornus to indicate where it is found. Some states have also provided county by county distribution lists.

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Plants database

Hi oldhermit and welcome,

I am an infrequent poster, but have learned a lot from reading this and other forums over the last couple years. I don't have a lot of time this morning, but will try to get you started. I'm sure others will have much to add.

"Perhaps it is the day before any white, or semi-white, settlers arrived?"--BINGO

"invasive" --When used in regular gardening circles, it means it spreads rapidly, entering areas where you didn't plant it. That applies to a lot of plants, both native and introduced. When used in native ecosystem terms, I think "invasive" basically means that it won't co-exist with other species, or replace the native plants that grew in a particular niche. That only happens with introduced plants, that didn't have the pests and predators that keep them under control where they came from--Garlic Mustard is the classic example. Native plants that like to spread a lot, to the point that they are not usually used in a home landscape (they never take over a whole ecosystem, tho!) are termed "aggressive"--like Canada Goldenrod.

I don't know about the other books, but in Peterson's a plant is native (in the area that it defines) unless it states that it is alien.

My main source of learning about native plants has been reading and my membership in Wild Ones. I posted the link to their website below--unfortunately the only chapter in PA is SE. The group started in the mid-west and is gradually expanding as interest in native landscaping increases. Still worth checking out. Make sure you read the books by Sara Stein--"Noah's Garden" and "Planting Noah's Garden".

Hope this helps. How wonderful that you want to take the time to learn and know your little corner of the world!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Ones; Native Plants, Natural Landscapes

I underscore the welcome and interest in natives. The above definitions are what I subscribe to. I do have plants that are not native and not invasive, such as hostas. However, I must confess to having a few that are invasive which I am trying (slowly) to eradicate, but it is hard work for this old lady! These plants were here before "my eyes were opened" to the invasive problems of some non-natives. I have friends who only plant things that are native to their corner of the earth, but I select things that are U.S. native, generally SE. I believe in personal choice WITH EDUCATION as to the options and possible consequences. (Free will, in religious terms.) Oh, oh. I am getting philosophical again...comes with age.

The term "Native" is used for both "local", and..."on the same continent"! In general, it's best to stick to the more immediate area. "Natives" from other parts of the country can themselves be invasive! It's like adding a Chevy part to a Ford engine...not really a good idea :)

I have garden areas where I plant vegetables, or flowers, but in most of the yard I plant Illinois natives (or Indiana... we're near the border:). I have some exceptions, but I watch them carefully for signs of anti-social behavior!

Invasive can mean just weedy or the plant can take over a whole ecosystem.

My definition of native is some what before the white man came. Remember,those who look at when New England was settled, parts of what now are US were settled by others including the Spanish. But a plant can be native in one area but not in another.

The trading of plants from one area to another where the plants are not naturally occuring is one of the ways plants become invasive. The plant may have been kept in check by surrounding conditions or fauna but move out of an area without it's plant and animal associations it may become a monster.

There is a Native Plant Society in Ithaca.

I generally stick with the northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Great topic and some well-informed responses. Here's my two cents.

The more I learn, the more complicated the whole 'what is native' question gets. At a certain point, the complexity becomes overwhelming, which is a good time to just pick a definition that makes sense to you and stick with it until another definition makes more sense.

The Ice Age issue is a great source of complexity. If you look at records of tree pollen in the eastern U.S., for example, it shows that (in general) certain cold weather species slowly vanished from the north as the glaciers expanded, but appeared in the south (which had gotten colder), while the southern warm weather species disappeared. Then, when the glaciers retreated, the whole process reversed. So did this happen with all plant species? Did all species that existed in Vermont before the Ice Age (actually, the glaciers came and went several times, and not always in the same places) return when it got warmer? We know that the native worms never migrated back to northeastern U.S. after the Ice Age, leaving room for invasive non-native worms that are destroying forest leaf litter at an alarming rate. So if there is a fossil record of a plant living in your area pre-Ice Age, but it doesn't live there now, is it a native?

Picking European settlement is a pretty good cut-off, since the settlers tended to do so much to hijack the normal process of plant migration and distribution and throw off the balances that living communities had developed through much slower processes of change (because 1492 is still just a snapshot of an evolving community). But new research into the native peoples living in north American pre-1492 indicates that they had a lot of impact on their environment. Some researchers believe that northeastern native peoples selectively increased the percentage of nut-bearing trees in the forests in order to increase food supply. Also, there may have been significant controlled burnings, and trade in various plants from South America to North.

So it's complicated, but fascinating (to me, at least).

A couple of other points:

No one said it explicitly, but there is a big difference between a non-native plant and a non-native invasive plant. Many gardeners who love natives also love non-native plants that behave themselves and don't threaten native plant communities.

I prefer to have plants that are from my area (as close as possible, but at least within my region of the country) in part because I don't want to take plants that are genetically adapted to one area and have their pollen mixing with plants that are genetically adapted to a completely different area. But it is also important to make sure the species you select are adapted to your microenvironment. You don't plant a moisture-loving plant in a dry area, an acid-loving plant in alkaline soil, or a sun loving plant in deep shade, even if that plant is native to your geographical area.

Another distinction some people make is between gardening with native plants and natural landscaping. Native plant gardening is more common, I think, and fits better into most neighborhood situations. This means you create a garden using the myriad of traditional designs and techniques, and then make sure that all the plants you use are natives. Natural landscaping (also called restoration) involves creating a space that mimics or recreates a natural space - a woodland, a grassland, a desert. It doesn't look much like a traditional garden at all. Like so much about this 'natives' stuff, it's not that one way of doing it is right, or better, it just depends on your interests, abilities, and what you have to work with.

I hope you can look past the complexity and decisionmaking and take time to enjoy the plants themselves - beyond all the economic, moral, environmental and other reasons we do this, there is this very primal love of the plants that keeps us - at least me - going.

OK, that was way more than two cents, apologies,

-- wd

And to make it more complex, the native americans were trading, moving and propogating plants for herbal or medicinal uses.

I like to use native to refer to plants that were here before european contact, or at least before european settlement. Yes, I understand that native americans moved plants around. For example, the jerusalem artichoke was apparently moved around a lot by native americans. However, native americans didn't have the means to introduce european or asian plants to North American, so the european settlement of this continent was a big event for the native flora. All of the really problematic invasive species here are from another continent, not from a nearby part of north america.

WOW! What incredible and helpful responses! Thank you all.
Here I have to confess to a potentially incurable flower-weakness --- I like them all! (almost).
Seriously, I do understand the direction toward protectionism for native species and I certainly join in not wanting invasive plants that take over or diminish those species.

I found myself with free time this year and I love having a challenge, I set out in early June, (too late for many species), to learn, more intimately, my surroundings.
I am not new to the woods, marsh and fields. I have always spent as much time as possible out of doors. My curiosity previously was mostly toward wildlife and their habitat requirements.

Being a complete novice and having no mentor, my interest in wildflowers at first was simply to get some "pretty flower pictures." Of course that lasted about three days before I had to wonder; what do I tell people it is? A book, another book, two more books and another, plus 20 internet sites bookmarked! I am hooked!
I still, even with all the aids, struggle to identify some new-found specimens and Im sure I have some misnamed, but I feel fairly confident that most will be correctly named eventually.
The astonishing thing, for me, is the realization that I have found somewhere in excess of 170 different flowers within a 15-minute walk of my house! That, lacking the whole array of flowering spring plants that I missed!

I suspect that most folks who take this "native" path are doing so in a controlled or semi-controlled environment where the practicality of selection is reasonable  a "yard" or limited space. I live in a panorama of woods, creek, marsh, dry and wet fields, drainages, loamy and gravely soils that is surrounded by thousands of acres of wilderness and farmland, mixed.
In my situation, any eradication effort would be all-consuming and quickly subject to reverting.

Certainly I have invasive species and some are very nasty but I find myself in somewhat of a catch-22 situation. I also have an interest in birds, and actually, "all" wildlife. In years past I have done habitat work to benefit wildlife. Mostly that involved clear-cutting, and plantings of desired mast and berry food plants (provided by my farm service agency)
Then last fall I followed some advice to "hinge-cut" some low-value trees to provide varied habitat for ground nesting songbirds. I achieved that! Now I have a "vine farm" with prickers so long and sharp they rip the hide off my arms, not to mention the multi-flora rose that competes with the vines. Did I tell you about my autumn olive groves?
Wildlife loves my place. IÂve seen bears, deer, coyote pups and bobcats during my wildflower photo-safaris. But I have a sinking feeling that what is good for some is not good for allÂ..

There is a native plant society of Pennsylvania I now only buy native plants but I have some awful invasives that I bought before I knew any better thinking they were wildlife friendly and they were not An example flowering quince hummingbirds use it but it is extremely invasive. Anyway here's a link to our native plant society

As you hinted at, I also think what's going on in natural areas is more important than what's happening in my yard. From the sound of your posts, you may have already started looking into which native shrubs and trees have the most wildlife value, but just in case you haven't yet, you may want to do some research about native Quercus (oaks), Cornus (dogwoods), and Viburnums. I'm fond of Lindera benzoin (spicebush), although the berries get eaten up very quickly.

Lori

Thanks for the link and the helpful comments. Spicebush is on the "long list" of plants to be gotten.

I also have been approved for the CRP program, (thanks to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation), and will be meeting with the planting contractor to select trees and shrubs for my bottomland and stream buffer areas.
There are several oak varieties on that list and I will be focusing on having as many of those as is recommended.

I did more than 130 plantings this spring of button bush, silky dogwood, hawthorne and crabapple, (purchased from Pennsylvania Game Commission). However, the extremely dry spring and early summer, plus deer and rabbit browsing, has taken it's toll on them.

Spicebush is a great plant, and this summer definetly took it's toll on them.

Hello, I work at a small non-profit in Western MA, that collects seeds of, propagates and sells native plants. Our definition of native is "plants existing in a specific region prior to European settlement". I am not sure what the definition will be a few more hundred years from now! We grow plants that are native only to our region, Berkshire County. However many of these varieites (we have over 150) are native to most of New England. We don't plan to expand outside of our region but rather, hope other local native plant growers will sprout across the country.The plants do preform better if sourced locally, but I have not noticed much difference in the growing habits of seed collected from New York or PA and seed we've collected locally. I do notice a difference however with plants/seed sourced from the west coast or the midwest. So in keeping native my advice is to keep local as well.

WOW! what wonderful information. im a novice, too. not so much at the gardening, but to the part of wanting to go native. my "sun jungle" is well on its way, but im in need of ideas for my shade garden. IM tired of trying differnt individual plants, i just dont seem to do do well with them, and the poison ivy that i cant seem to get rid of chokes them out anyway. i would love ideas for smaller, possibly flowering bushes that would do well in patial shade. attracting and feeding birds, wintering in ohio, or butterflies in the summertime would be an added blessing. thank you