A NATIVE PLANT STORY

How and why I converted my Takoma Park, MD yard to 99% native plant species to support increased biodiversity

Here's what I achieved in 6 years:

• 265 plant species representing 82 families; 99% native; 0 invasive species; 53 keystone species (trees, shrubs, and forbs);

• 9x increase in species diversity; 

• 3.5x increase in number of plant families represented; 

• 1.7x increase in overall ratio of native to non-native plants;  

• Complete eradication of invasive species; 

• 13x increase in number of keystone species.

• 98% of growth in yard below 7 feet consists of native species; about 33% of these plants are keystone species.

All photos on this site © 2017-2023 by Jeremy Wells