Adding biodiversity to your yard and garden means an increase in all types of life. But what do I mean by “adding biodiversity”?. And what is biodiversity? Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life in a habitat or ecosystem. And you add to it by adding what you life you can. For gardeners this means plants. I recently went on a quest to identify as many insects/plants/fungi/animals/birds as possible in my home state of Kansas. It is an ongoing quest that will not end.
As I look to identify the biodiversity of Kansas, I am also looking to increase it in my own landscape. Thus, with the help of project on iNaturalist, I can not only track the life in my yard, I can also get flora and fauna identified by experts in Kansas.
When you begin to add as many native plants as possible to your landscape, you not only increase biodiversity, you increase the potential for that landscape to heal itself. Aka become sustainable. What do I mean by that? Well, when a landscape or ecosystem has the ability to heal itself, it means that the abundance of predators and parasitoids is high enough to keep pests in control.
Keystone Species
As I mentioned in an earlier article, keystone plants are those which an ecosystem depends on to thrive. Keystone species includes not only plants, but large mammals, invertebrates, and others which help life along. Most of us do not have the ability to add keystone animals to the landscape. If you would like to no more about that process, I suggest reading the book Wilding by Isabella Tree. It documents the biodiversifying of an old English farm as it transitions from unproductive farm to bio-rich landscape in Southern England.
In our own landscapes, we can add keystone plants when possible. As I researched these plants, I came to realize that just because there are certain plants considered more important that others, almost any native plant you want to add will benefit the ecosystem. My research dived into specialist bees, and it was then that I realized that there are many, many specialist bees. These are bees which may gather pollen from only 1 to 12 plant genera. Most are only on 1 or 2, and always within a Plant Family. But there are other insects that are specialists beside bees.
What are specialists? Specialists are animals or fungi which develop only on certain species of plants or animals. For example of a non-bee specialist, the Youthful Underwing moth only uses Bitternut Hickory, Carya cordiformis, as a host plant. And besides being used as host plants, many plants also support the ecosystem by providing food for a variety of birds and animals.
Native Plants for Biodiversity
When increasing biodiversity with plants, we need to do native plants. Most of our gardens already have a large variety of introduced plants, and what benefits do they provide besides beauty? Except maybe disease and pest resistance, none. Only a few of the introduced plants support any wildlife at all. Even the fruit of the invasive Callery Pear has been discovered to not have the right fat content for migrating birds, when they need energy the most. We must plant natives!
As I researched, I came up with a list of the 38 most important plants for the Central Great Plains region, for adding biodiversity. These plants have the highest numbers of butterflies, moths, bees, birds, and other insects which use them for food. Some however, have no specialist bees or other insects, but may support a large number of moths, which support birds. Most of the trees are wind-pollinated, so they do not have specialist bees (except for willows).
Perennials (Not including Grasses/Sedges)
Between the first 2 perennials, there are 228 specialist bees and 138 Lepidopteran (butterflies and moths) species. That is for the United States though, not just the Central Great Plains. But we can aspire to believing we are helping up to those numbers when we plant these plants in our landscapes. With perennials, I like to do masses or spread them around the property. Unlike with trees, you really need several plants to make a difference. With each perennial, there will be its name, the number of species in the Genus, number of Lepidopterans, number of specialists, number of other insects, and number of birds affected.
- Goldenrods: 10 species, 77 moths and butterflies, 93 specialist bees, 15 other insects, 6 birds
- Sunflowers: 7 species, 61 moths and butterflies, 135 specialist bees, 58 other insects, 20 birds
- Virginia strawberry: 1 species, 56 moths and butterflies, 3 specialist bees, 40 other insects, 5 birds
- False indigos (Amorpha): 3 species, 27 moths and butterflies, 2 specialist bees, 36 other insects, 0 birds
- Bonesets: 3 species, 25 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 1 other insects, 0 birds
- Violets: 7 species, 23 moths and butterflies, 2 specialist bees & 3 specialist butterflies, 3 other insects, 1 bird
- Wingstem: 4 species, 17 moths and butterflies, 72 specialist bees, 5 other insects, 0 birds
- Ironweeds: 5 species, 17 moths and butterflies, 15 specialist bees, 0 other insects, 0 birds
- Poppy Mallows: 2 species, 15 moths and butterflies, 13 specialist bees, 0 other insects, 0 birds
- Wild indigos (Baptisia): 3 species, 13 moths and butterflies, 1 specialist bee, 8 other insects, 0 birds
Grasses to Add for Biodiversity
There are only 8 min species of grasses to the Central Great Plains region which have large numbers of insects utilizing the. There are 0 specialist bees because grasses are all wind pollinated. But without them, we would not have very many of our favorite grass skippers, of which there are an abundance.
- Big bluestem: 16 moths and butterflies, 20 other insects, 3 birds
- Sideoats grama: 13 moths and butterflies, 17 other insects, 2 birds
- Switchgrass: 19 moths and butterflies, 40 other insects, 41 birds
- Prairie cordgrass: 7 moths and butterflies, 9 other insects, 5 birds
- Indiangrass: 6 moths and butterflies, 14 other insects, 5 birds
- Nodding bulrush: 5 moths and butterflies, 7 other insects, 30 birds
- Eastern gamagrass: 2 moths and butterflies, 4 other insects, 0 birds
- Little bluestem: 16 moths and butterflies, 24 other insects, 7 birds
Shrubs
Many of the shrubs actually have species which fall into the TREE category. But these are ones which are shrubs in the Central Great Plains region. Shrubs are great for the borders of properties, or added throughout the landscape to fill in where a large blank space occurs. However, hydrangea is not on this list.
- Dogwoods: 3 species, 73 moths and butterflies, 4 specialist bees, 62 other insects, 40 birds
- Hazelnut: 1 species, 69 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 52 other insects, 7 birds
- Wild roses: 4 species, 76 moths and butterflies, 1 specialist bee, 14 other insects, 2 birds
- Wild grapes: 4 species, 63 moths and butterflies, 0 specialist bees, 25 other insects, 26 birds
- Serviceberry: 1 species, 63 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 30 other insects, 19 birds
- Ironwood (Ostrya): 1 species, 58 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 26 other insects, 6 birds
- Viburnum: 2 species, 56 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 7 other insects, 21 birds
- Sumac: 3 species, 38 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 36 other insects, 38 birds
- Elderberry: 1 species, 24 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 17 other insects, 35 birds
- Buttonbush: 1 species, 17 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 7 other insects, 12 birds
Add These Trees for Biodiversity
Trees are the greatest generators of biodiversity in the landscape. However, they are pretty low on bees, because most are wind pollinated. But if you are wanting overall diversity, as well as increased numbers of birds, plant trees.
- Oaks, White Oak Group: 5 species, 242 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 144 other insects, 14 birds
- Cherries: 6 species, 221 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 26 other insects, 46 birds
- Willows: 7 species, 187 moths and butterflies, 43 specialist bees, 192 other insects, 8 birds
- Maple: 4 species, 163 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 53 other insects, 27 birds
- Cottonwood: 2 species, 162 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 91 other insects, 5 birds
- Hickory: 6 species, 134 moths and butterflies, 2 specialist Lepidopterans on Bitternut hickory, 122 other insects, 10 birds
- Elms: 3 species, 126 moths and butterflies, 4 specialist leafhoppers, 54 other insects, 10 birds
- Black walnut: 1 species, 95 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 34 other insects, 18 birds
- American linden: 1 species, 94 moths and butterflies, 0 specialists, 28 other insects, 1 bird
- Hackberry: 2 species, 36 moths and butterflies, 3 specialist butterflies, 19 other insects, 29 birds
Other Plants for Biodiversity
When it comes to adding plant materials, you cannot go wrong as long as you are adding natives from your bio-region. No matter what natives you add, whether thistles or orchids, you will bring in the specialists, Lepidopterans, and other insects which use those plants exclusively. Even trees which have few insect problems, such as the Kentucky Coffeetree, have benefits to overwintering insects, inside the bark or along the stems. Add any of the following for more biodiversity.
Meadow Garden Plants
- Tall thistle
- Wavyleaf thistle
- Curlycup gumweed
- Asters
- Hairy wild petunia
- Golden Alexanders
- Rattlesnake master
- Butterfly milkweed
- Common milkweed
- Whorled milkweed
- Gaillardia
- Grass-leaved goldenrod
- False sunflower
- Helenium
- Western wallflower
- Purple prairie clover
- Roundhead bushclover
- Wild senna
- Mountain mints
- Liatris
- Evening primrose
- Stenosiphon
- Penstemons
- Verbenas
- Beebalm
Woodland Garden Plants
- Purple milkweed
- Asters
- Wild ginger
- Jack-in-the-pulpit
- False Solomon’s seal
- Solomon’s seal
- Toothwort
- Virginia waterleaf
- Bluebells
- Mayapple
- Horse gentian
- Wild geranium
- Canada anemone
- Trillium
- Indian pink
- Bloodroot
- Wood phlox
- Fall phlox
- Wild columbine
- Canada wood nettle
Wetland Garden Plants
- Swamp milkweed
- Hemp dogbane
- Canada mint
- Obedient plant
- American bugleweed
- Copper iris
- Powdery thalia
- Culver’s Root
- Blue vervain
- Bulrushes
- Rushes
- Sedges
Conclusion
Adding biodiversity to your landscape is as easy as picking out the plant you want for the wildlife you want. If you are wanting to see more bees and butterflies, maybe choose a goldenrod. If you favor birds over everything, plant a few oaks and willows. No matter what you plant, so long as it is native, you will gain. And so will everything else.
Happy planting!
