The bulk of her garden is natives not just any Colorado native, but those that grow in thin soil, under drought conditions and in full sun. Colorado is filled with native plants, but many are unsuited to grow outside the specific conditions that nature has provided. It s a mountainside flower. The key to planting natives in your own yard is to find those that will flourish in the conditions you provide. So you ll have to think like Mother Nature.
Natives are hosts for butterflies.
That means that butterflies will only lay their eggs on plants that have evolved over millions of years to provide the right conditions. The monarch caterpillar feasts on the leaves of the milkweed, which contains a strong poison. They store a form of that poison in their system once they change into a butterfly so that birds won t eat them. This relationship is so ancient that without milkweed, we ll have no monarch butterflies. Catch our interview with butterfly expert George Brinkmann.