We often do not have reliable habitat preference information about plants native to other continents. Hybrids, or a cultivar selected for a particular ornamental attribute, may truly be wild cards in terms of environmental tolerances. However, most landscape plants will never see those conditions. Reliable information on plant habitat preference and tolerance is increasingly important as development and landscaping increasingly occur on more difficult sites. Furthermore, plantings in existing landscapes often end up in the shade of mature trees.
Many native plants are most useful in such places.
In New England, most efforts have been focused on restoring or replacing wetland.gif systems, a process often referred to as mitigation. Farther west, restoration of prairie plant communities has been gaining momentum for decades. At the national level, through federal mandates and the work of major conservation organizations, there are restoration projects starting in all the major habitat types. The basic building blocks of these restoration efforts are the native plant species, and the demand for nursery grown material is on the rise. This is especially true as the ethic against wild collecting plants for commercial purposes becomes more widely accepted.