Native Plant Finder

In his Bring Back the Natives keynote, Dr. Douglas Tallamy spoke on what we can do to attract and sustain nature in our yards. Dr. Tallamy mentioned two tools for figuring out what to plant – Calscape and Native Plant Finder. Last month we took a look at the Calscape tool. This month we'll take a look at Native Plant Finder tool.

The Native Plant Finder website (in Beta) is designed to help you find the best plant species to attract butterflies, birds, and wildlife in your area. The data is sourced from the U. S. Forest Service, The National Wildlife Federation, and the University of Delaware, where Dr. Tallamy is a professor of entomology and wildlife ecology. Enter your zip code, and search for plants or butterflies that are native to your area.   

Native Plant Finder in a browser – enter a zip code to get started

Native plants filtered by category for the zip code entered

For example, I can check the Trees and Shrubs section for hawthorns, to learn more about the hedge of hawthorn bushes in our yard. I find out that the native species in our area is Cratageus suksdorfii, and that 78 species of butterflies and moths use this bush as a caterpillar host plant. That probably explains the early morning chorus of birds in the lower yard!

The native hawthorn is a great caterpillar host plant

Save the plant and any of it attracted species to the list, for later research. 

My native plant and butterfly list

Select Suppliers > Native Plant Directory, to access a list of native plant suppliers by state. For California, I see several favorite nurseries here in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Bay Natives, Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, and The Watershed Nursery. If you use the mobile app, you have easy access to your lists and sources while out shopping for plants.

I highly recommend Native Plant Finder as a resource for anyone who gardens here in California, or in North America. You can use the tool without an account for general research or add a free account to use features like lists. I especially like the emphasis on hosts plants, no doubt thanks to Dr. Tallamy's entomological background. Not only can you learn which native plants would thrive in your garden, but which are the best host plants for attracting the birds, amphibians, and wildlife you'd like to see in your yard!