Nature Notes: Native Plants and Beautiful Butterflies: Are You Ready to Transform Your Yard & Save Money Too?

by Marcia Hanscom

This is the time of year when many people are beginning to think about planting native plant gardens.  Unlike in areas where more harsh weather conditions prevail (think: shoveling snow in the winter!), in southern California, fall is the optimum time for planting many of our native plant species.   Why plant native plants?   Well, do you like beautiful butterflies?  Who doesn't?

In addition to attracting butterflies of various sizes and colors which love the nectar of the flowers, native plant gardens can help families who reside in Los Angeles save water, energy and money.  

But first, how is it that the native plants save water, energy and money?

Because we live in a sub-tropical climate where water is often scarce, planting native plants save water because they actually evolved over many thousands of years to be in harmony with this climate.   In other words, once a native plant is established in the soil, which generally can take from a few weeks to six months or so, irrigation is no longer needed.   That's right.  No watering needed after the plant has established a good root structure.  In fact, watering or prolonged irrigation will actually harm the plant.

How does growing native plants in a yard or garden help save energy?  Transporting, storing, cleansing and delivering water from northern Cailfornia, where much of our Los Angeles water supply comes from, to our homes and businesses, requires significant energy.  Energy that we need to conserve.   So, when we conserve water in this region, we conserve energy.  And all of this conservation translates to a savings of money - both for the water user and for the municipal water deliverer.

As of April 1, the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power increased the rebate amount that a residential customer will receive for replacing a traditional grass lawn with water efficient landscaping, to $2.00 per square foot, up to a limit of $4,000.   

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This incentive for eliminating water-hogging lawns has been used by many residents in the community of Mar Vista, which showcases some of these homes in their annual Green Garden Tour, sponsored by the Mar Vista Community Council's Green Committee.

The bonus with all of these savings is the butterfly mecca you can host, if you know the right plants to use.

Along the Marina Peninsula in Venice, at the Ballona Wetlands Grand Canal Lagoon, native plants were brought in as part of a community-engaged restoration.   The tiny plants that were planted by girl scouts, team members of Global Green, officers of the Venice Neighborhood Council, school children from the nearby Westside Global Awareness Magnet School and many other community members, were grown from seeds and cuttings from native plants in nearby intact wetland and dune ecosystem areas.  It wasn't but a year before the place was buzzing with numerous species of butterflies.  

There were Acmon Blue Butterflies, Pygmy Blue Butterflies, Monarchs and Fiery Skippers, Gray Hairstreaks, Sulphurs and Wandering Skippers.   Each butterfly has favorite food sources and favorite places where she likes to lay her eggs.  Some butterflies are specific to only one plant, like the El Segundo Blue Butterfly that only uses the Coast Buckwheat Eriogonum parvifolium. 

This butterfly species has already made its way from the El Segundo Blue Butterfly Preserve under the LAX flight path to the dunes in the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.    As the Coast Buckwheat matures at the Ballona Wetlands Grand Canal Lagoon, we hope it will find its way to the north side of the Marina channel, and the Venice Beach area will have yet another endangered species in its midst to join up with the California Least Tern, which flies every year from Guatemala and southern Mexico to nest on our beach.    Nature thrives in Los Angeles!

© 2013, Marcia Hanscom & Ballona Institute