What to grow instead
The native that does the ornamental's job, and gives more back.
Last updated August 2026
Before you buy, the question is what to plant — and the usual answer at the nursery is something that isn't from here. This is the other way round. Start from the garden job you have — a lawn, a hedge, a shade tree, a plant “for butterflies” — and find the native that does it at least as well, and usually better: for the wildlife it feeds and the water it saves. Each swap sets the two side by side on the things that actually decide it: water (will it want the hose all summer?), disease, and what it feeds. Where the native only ties the ornamental we say so; where it wins — a Bermuda-grass lawn against little bluestem, a butterfly bush against the milkweed a monarch actually needs — the page shows you why. It's a positive list, not a scold: a better choice, freely made.
Learn more
- Why a native feeds more than an ornamental — Homegrown National Park
- Find native plants for your area — Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
How this grew
Every change to this part of the app, newest first — the same plain notes that go out with each update.
Version 0.28
August 30, 2026- what to grow instead.** A new page sets the ornamentals people plant everywhere — and that aren’t from here — beside a native that does the same job, as tough on water and disease and better for wildlife. A Bermuda-grass lawn, meet little bluestem. See them
- A share card for every native swap. Share a link to an ornamental people plant everywhere and the preview now shows it in a cautioning amber, what it's grown for, and how many natives do the same job — the native-swaps page gets one too.