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The key building blocks for a wildlife garden.
Many of us are familiar with native plants and are taking steps to add more to our gardens. Some of you may be new to planting with pollinators and wildlife in mind, some of you may have been doing it for years. It can be overwhelming when diving into a new garden space, or feeling pressure to 'edit' your existing one to be more wildlife conscious–there are SO many beautiful and beneficial native plants out there... how do you even know where to start?! That's where keystone plants come in!
So, what is a keystone?
The term keystone comes from architecture–the keystone in a bridge is the final stone to get placed in the center of a bridge arch and is the most important stone in the structure. As each stone in the curve leans/presses on one another, they are then locked into place by the final keystone piece–without that keystone, the entire arch would collapse.
Keystone image source Wikipedia
A 'keystone plant' was coined by ecologist Robert Paine in the 1960's. Keystone plants are native species that generate a network of beneficial relationships, providing critical sources of food and/or shelter for a large number of other species. Keystones help stabilize their ecosystem and have a large effect on the diversity of other species–many insects, birds and even mammals depend on these keystone species, some relying on them to complete their lifecycles. If you remove keystone plants from an ecosystem, it can cause a major shift or even collapse of the ecosystem. You can have a garden full of native plants, but if you don’t have keystone species included (or close by), your garden habitat will be not be performing to its fullest potential.
Only 14% of our native plants (keystones) are responsible for the vast majority of our wildlife--without keystone plants in the landscape, butterflies, native bees, and birds will not flourish.
Large trees have the biggest impact
If you have the space, keystone trees are going to have the largest impact by FAR. Think size if nothing else–that's a lot of foliage (and habitat)! But also, some species are simply better food, and support a much larger number of caterpillars and native bees–the white oak tree is a host plant to 436 species of moths and butterflies! Planting one or more of these will have the biggest impact, and you're truly planting (and planning) for a better future when you do so.
White Oak (above left), River Birch (center), and Basswood (right) are known to be excellent keystone trees for our area.
Oaks - host to 488 caterpillar species in the SE
There is no question that planting an oak tree is saving (and fostering) MANY lives! If you're worried about them blowing over, plant in a group of 3 so the roots hold each other up (Judy West references this in her excellent presentation, quoting Doug Tallamy). You can find both Red and White Oak at Painters this fall–both grow into beautiful shade trees and provide lovely fall color.
Birches - host 299 caterpillar species
We have River Birch this fall, and highly recommend them not only as keystone plants but for streamline restoration and erosion control in moist or poorly drained areas. The bark is extremely shaggy and provides a lot of textural interest.
Pines - host 232 caterpillar species
We have White & Table Mountain Pines at Painters this fall–both beautiful trees as well as excellent keystones. White Pines grow pretty quickly for evergreens, so are also a great privacy screen option.
Basswood - host 132 caterpillar species
These amazing native trees enrich the soil, have medicinal properties, the fragrant summer blooms providing excellent food for bees, and foliage is a rich yellow in fall.
Beech - host 116 caterpillar species
One of the best options for a taller native hedge as they grow densely and are excellent support for birds. Beech are also known for their medicinal properties and offer lovely orange fall color with leaves persisting late into the cold months.
Shrubs & smaller trees are also essential
Not everyone has space for one or more large shade trees–and that’s where keystone shrubs and smaller trees come in! Below are some of our favorite keystones recommended for our area.
Blueberries (above left), Black Raspberries (center) and Florida Dogwood (right) are all excellent keystone shrubs and smaller trees for our area that provide lovely flowers and edible fruit along with essential wildlife support.
Willows - host 289 caterpillar species
Commonly seen along riverbanks, we are currently in between crops at Painters, but Black Willows especially are extremely beneficial keystone plants!
Blueberries host 237 caterpillar species
We have cultivars of V. corymbosum & ashei; you can also look for the straight species of tenellum, stamineum pallidum or fascatum for the best wildlife support.
Raspberries & Blackberries - host 127 caterpillars
Choose one of our native straight species or cultivars of red raspberry, black raspberry or blackberry as opposed to the hybrids to have the best wildlife support–our favorite for both our own eating and wildlife is black raspberry!
American Hazelnuts - host 108 caterpillars
We have American Hazelnut this fall–an incredible wildlife resource & food for us too!
Native Roses - host 105 caterpillars
Currently in between crops at Painters. Look for Carolina Rose, Virginia Rose, or Swamp Rose, but be aware that they can spread quickly and give them room to breathe to reduce mildew issues.
Dogwoods - host 101 caterpillar species
Native Flowering Dogwood has berries containing 25% fat vs the Japanese Dogwood’s berries which have 2% fat–a huge difference for migrating birds especially! We currently have three species of native dogwood at Painters.
Serviceberries - host 101 caterpillar species
We have a couple species of this amazing native as well a few hybrids which have also been shown to have great wildlife benefit. Fluffy spring blooms are great for bees, the berries are delicious for people as well as wildlife, and the fall foliage is stunning.
Keystone Perennials
Fill in between your larger keystones with herbaceous perennials! There are many highly beneficial perennials for our area, but a few really stand out as true keystones. If you can, plant five or more for the best wildlife benefit–just a couple plants won't attract or support as many insects. Plus, bigger groupings of plants look much better in the garden–a bigger swath of color and texture!
We have several species of goldenrod (left), asters (middle) and Helianthus (left) at Painters this fall.
Goldenrods - host 104 caterpillar species & 42 native bees
Commonly mistaken as the source of fall allergies but rarely the culprit, you simply cannot choose a more beneficial native perennial for your pollinator garden! We grow several species and hybrids offering a range of sizes and blooms shapes, and we guarantee adding them throughout your yard will dramatically increase the health of your ecosystem and the numbers of your pollinators and birds.
Asters - host 100 caterpillars & 33 bees
Perhaps our favorite keystone perennial as there are SO many beautiful asters of every imaginable color, size and habit–spring as well as fall blooming, and always covered in pollinators! We grew 12 different asters this fall!
Helianthus - host 66 caterpillars & 50 bees
We have 3 species and several cultivars of native sunflowers, offering different shades of rich yellow and orange and varied heights. Always a showstopper for people as well as pollinators!
Rudbeckia - host 20 caterpillars & 29 bees
Everyone loves Black-eyed Susans–people, pollinators & birds alike... plus they usually spread, so it's not hard to establish larger patches affordably (much more visual appeal and better wildlife support). We have several species and cultivars, with one of our favorites being the Henry Eilers–there's simply nothing like it!
Coreopsis - host 7 caterpillars and 22 bees
We grow a range of Coreopsis at Painters, but if you want to ensure keystone support, look for the C. auriculata 'Nana' or the C. lanceolata. We absolutely love the Nana as a low growing border/groundcover–the foliage forms a dense semi-evergreen mat, and the lovely rich mustard yellow blooms simply coat the plants in early spring before much else is blooming.
This chart by the National Wildlife Federation is our favorite keystone resource:
Also, see Homegrown National Park for their recommended keystone shrubs & trees for our region.
Once you have a few Keystones, fill in with more beautiful beneficials!
The NC Native Plant Society provides a detailed list of recommended native plants, and the Blue Ridge Audubon Society provides a list of natives essential to birds. Some of these listed species may not be considered keystones, but are still very important to our pollinators, birds, and ecosystem as a whole. This includes our plant of the week, the American Beautyberry, and last week’s featured plant, Black Chokeberry (both on sale right now and truly excellent wildlife plants as well as beautiful additions to your landscape).
NOW IT'S TIME TO PLAN AND PLANT!
Sources
Homegrown National Park Keystone Plants by Ecoregion
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