Hot take: my neighbor said native plants are a waste of space

I was helping him plant some flowers in his yard in Cincinnati last spring, and he pointed at my little patch of milkweed and coneflowers. He said, 'Why bother with that scrub? You could fit three nice hydrangeas there.' I told him those plants feed the local bees and butterflies, and he just shrugged and said it looked messy. It stuck with me because he's a nice guy, but that view is so common. It's been a year and his hydrangeas look fine, but I've counted over 20 monarch caterpillars on my milkweed. Does anyone else get pushback for trying to grow native species?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_hart41mo agoTop Commenter

My neighbor once called my yard a 'bug motel' because of the native plants. I told him at least my guests pay rent in pollination. His perfect green lawn looks like a carpet no one's allowed to walk on. Meanwhile, I've got baby rabbits hiding in the little bluestem and more fireflies than I've seen since I was a kid. It's a different kind of pretty, one that actually does something.

aaron_mitchell1mo ago

Keep a few printed fact sheets about local pollinators in your garage. Next time he makes a comment, just hand him one and point to the fireflies. Say you're happy to share seeds if he ever wants to try a small patch. It turns a silly argument into a quiet offer, and sometimes they actually take you up on it.

paige_owens51mo ago

That "bug motel" line from @drew_hart4 reminds me of the year my milkweed was absolutely covered in monarch caterpillars (it was wild).