Home / The Dirt / native plants

Native Plants

In this post, Lauren offers 6 tips on how you can design a bird-friendly garden right in your own backyard.

In my blog post The Native Link: The Importance of Native Plants to Birds, I describe the importance of native plants to the ecosystem, and more specifically, how birds benefit from native plants. But what exactly is the problem with nonnative, and more specifically invasive, plants and how do they affect birds and the ecosystem

Raingardens offer an effective landscape solution to managing stormwater on-site.

Native plants play a vital role in the ecosystem when it comes to wildlife species. In fact, the best habitat you can provide is one that is overly abundant in native vegetation.

The 2020 edition of the water weed guide includes 18 aquatic weeds of concern for Benton County and their native and non-native look-alikes.

In this time of uncertainty, the term “workmates” takes on new meaning…

From 2019 to 2021, Benton SWCD is focusing our native plant outreach on birds and the actions we can take to support them. Some of the important services birds provide include: Birds control pests – birds eat millions of tons of insects every year including mosquitoes and agricultural pests. Birds pollinate plants – some of

Conservation Neighbor Nick Cavagnaro shares some tips for what to grow in Benton County. He doesn’t have use for plants that do not support the local wildlife, be it birds or insects.

In 1999, Cliff and Gay Hall bought a sheep farm in Kings Valley in northwestern Benton County with the hope of not only restoring the 1898 farm house, but also to manage the 80 acres with the goal of enhancing wildlife populations and diversity while preserving the pastoral beauty of the property.  With the help

This article has five authors: Donna Schmitz, Teresa Matteson, Heath Keirstead, Laura Brown, and Holly Crosson. On June 30, 2019, Dr. Clifford Hall resigned from Benton SWCD’s Board of Directors, on which he had served since 2003. During his tenure, the District developed a high quality budgeting process and grew our staff from 2 to

Whether you have sun or shade, clay or sandy soil, you want to choose the right plants for your site.