Good for you in trying to go all native! I could not honestly say that I have had success in doing that, yet, as I'm just starting out (am building a home from scratch, which is not even finished yet, but trying to get a start on the landscaping at the same time). But I will let you know how it turns out! My own commitment is that if it doesn't grow food for me, then I will only use natives. All-native vegetable
gardening seemed just too restrictive to consider, but that still means any and all ornamentals and my "
yard" as well - all native. Which means a meadow, instead of a yard. In my quest to achieve this, I stumbled onto the South Carolina Native Plant Society. Good people with a lot of help and advice to give, so see if there is a chapter near you. My chapter here go on seed collecting forays frequently, and if you
volunteer to help with the plant sale fundraisers you will likely get first pick at the plants! The one solid piece of advise I can give is that when if comes to establishing an all-native meadow, patience is the key - you
should expect to take 3 or 4 years to really get it going. So I am told, and after just one year's attempt so far, I can see what they mean.
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