| In the 1730s, British aristocrats eagerly paid the equivalent of a servant’s annual income for a shipment of 100 seeds of American species. Specimens from the New World’s astounding natural bounty conveyed status and wealth. Even today, American magnolias, mountain laurels, azaleas, rhododendrons and sugar maples adorn Europe’s great gardens and avenues. Today’s American gardeners, however, often regard their country’s native species as more like weeds than botanical treasures. We’ve overwhelmingly planted species from Asia and Europe in U.S. gardens and lawns, including English boxwood to Japanese hosta. Of the thousands of ornamental plant species sold in American nurseries over the past two centuries, about 70 percent — some 3,587 species — were not native to the continental United States, according to a 2022 peer-reviewed analysis. Even many species widely considered American — Kentucky bluegrass, Queen Anne’s lace and dandelion among them — are actually imports or stowaways, naturalized after arriving decades or centuries ago. Yet Jefferson wasn’t alone among early American leaders in envisioning the new agrarian republic taking root in gardens and fields full of native plants, said Andrea Wulf, historian and author of “Founding Gardeners.” General George Washington commanded America’s revolutionary army while daydreaming of rhododendron blossoms at Mount Vernon. Abigail Adams banished showy crown imperials for having too “monarchical a Name,” preferring a “humble citizen,” the red columbine. (Of course, the continent’s Native peoples were the first to appreciate its plants.) Jefferson, Washington and Madison planted crops from around the world. But the native plants at Monticello, Mount Vernon and Montpelier, they believed, sustained the new republic’s liberty and prosperity, complementing the promise of its founding documents. That patriotism is stirring again, in rural and urban America alike. Hunters and farmers are restoring prairie strips and wetlands, descendants of conservation programs that have helped many waterfowl see population gains since 1970. In wealthy enclaves on the coasts, homeowners are ripping out manicured lawns for meadows. Conservation groups like Wild Ones, National Wildlife Federation and Homegrown National Park have helped thousands of people replace unwanted turf with wildlife gardens and pollinator-friendly lawns. To make the native plant picker above, I teamed up with Wildr Places, a plant recommendation app designed by scientists and naturalists to transform yards into native wildlife habitat. In each of the 50 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, Wildr reviewed thousands of plant species to choose three: a canopy tree, an understory shrub or small tree, and a flowering perennial for the ground layer. Read my full column and find out which three native plants you can plant to help wildlife in your area thrive. Write to me at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails. | 
