Retoring Native - Plants and Habitats

Why Native Plants?

Imagine you’re a bird trying to feed your babies. Baby birds eat only invertebrates—especially caterpillars—and it takes hundreds of them to raise a single brood. Caterpillars can only eat the plants they evolved with. Without native plants, birds cannot survive.

Pollinators face the same challenge. Most plants depend on insects for pollination, and these plant–pollinator relationships have evolved over thousands of years. Without native plants, pollinators decline—and so does everything else.

Every plant choice matters. By restoring native plants, you restore habitat.

Habitat Beyond Plants

Creating habitat is more than choosing the right plants:

  • 🚫 Avoid Pesticides – Sprays for mosquitoes and ticks kill all insects.

  • 🍂 Leave the Leaves & Stems – Many insects overwinter in leaf litter and dead stems.

  • 🌙 Keep Nights Dark – Wildlife is sensitive to artificial light.

Native Plants for Yards & Landscapes

There are over 270 garden-worthy native plants available in Northern Virginia—from groundcovers to flowering trees. Whatever your landscaping need, there’s a native plant for it.

📖 Explore resources at Plant NOVA Natives:

  • The Native Plants for Northern Virginia guide & online search app

  • Lists of native plant landscapers and garden centers

  • Gardening guidance for different sites (sun/shade, wet/dry, residential/institutional)

👉 Want help? Invite a volunteer ambassador from the Wildlife Sanctuary Program to walk your yard and strategize.

Restoring Natural Areas

Replant, or let the land recover on its own? It depends.

Managing invasive plants

  • Removal takes several years—don’t try to clear everything at once.

  • Planting too early can result in new natives being choked out.

  • Herbicides, when used carefully, often disturb soil less than pulling by hand.

  • Always cover bare soil with leaves or seeds (like Virginia Wild Rye) to prevent erosion.

Restoring trees & shrubs

  • More sunlight = more invasive growth. Replanting shade trees helps restore balance.

  • Deer browsing prevents natural regrowth. Protect young seedlings with fencing until they outgrow deer reach.

Choosing the right plants

  • Use only species that naturally belong to that ecosystem (floodplain, meadow, oak woodland, etc.).

  • Whenever possible, choose local ecotypes—plants adapted to our specific soils and climate.

  • Earth Sangha grows and sells plants from local ecotype seed.

Seeds vs. Seedlings

Seeds

  • ✅ Cost-effective for prepared meadows or erosion control

  • ❌ Often poor germination without special treatment (stratification)

Seedlings

  • ✅ Reliable for most replanting projects

  • ❌ May carry weed seeds if not sourced carefully

💡 Tip: For most projects, seedlings are the better investment. Use seeds mainly for soil-holding grasses (like Virginia Wild Rye) or carefully prepared meadows.

It is very easy to spread hundreds of dollars-worth of seeds only to have none of them germinate. It makes sense when you think of it. Any given plant produces many seeds in its lifetime – even millions – to produce the one offspring it needs to perpetuate its gene line. You have to provide ideal soil conditions without competition from other plants to see germination of most seeds. To add to that complication, many seeds will only germinate if they are first “stratified,” meaning prepared in special conditions before planting. This is why seedlings are the usual choice for replanting efforts, with some exceptions, including these.

  • Scattering Virginia Wild Rye in a woodland after soil disturbance to help hold the soil until other plants take over.

  • Planting meadows where the soil has been very thoroughly prepared and good seed-to soil contact is assured.

A downside to planting seedlings is that the soil that comes with them may contain weed seeds. Only plant specimens that come from reliable sources.