People have an insatiable need to classify things. We constantly sort the things around us into categories: red states versus blue states, native plants versus non-native plants, winners versus losers, fruit versus vegetable, work versus play, and so on.
We create classifications to make it easier on us: so we can study how things work, talk with each other about them coherently, and stay organized.
For instance, in school you probably learned that there are five oceans: the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern oceans. But our global ocean is a single, continuous body of water wrapping around the globe.
It often turns out that the definitions we use to split these categories apart often say more about us and our needs than they do about the things themselves. Our division of the global ocean into five units is based more on human cultural connections and history than to the geography of the seas.
Likewise, when we classify plants into groups, we are ultimately shedding more light on our perceptions than on the biology of the plants themselves. What could be more arbitrary than the distinction between tree and shrub, for example?
And so it is with native plants.
People constructed definitions of native plants so we can organize our discussions and have a common language for discussing human concerns.
Most definitions of native have three components: hypothetical, geographic, and anthropocentric.
Plants that WOULD BE found IN THIS PLACE without the intervention of PEOPLE.
The hypothetical component is sometimes replaced with a temporal component.
Plants that WERE found IN THIS PLACE before the arrival of PEOPLE.
It serves us well to remember that these definitions essentially depend on arbitrary distinctions.
What does “IN THIS PLACE” mean? Within 10 meters? Within 25 miles? 200 miles? Up to 300 miles, but in similar soil? What does “similar soil” mean?
It is easy for these definitional self-doubts to become a rabbit hole, but only if we forget why we created the definition in the first place.
The fact is that, when people move plants into a new environment there are real risks both to the health of that environment and the people who depend on it.
And when we exterminate plants from an environment, there too are real risks. We see these risks manifested every day as plants and animals go extinct around the globe.
I am committed to gardening with native plants because one of my core values is that I have an obligation to do as little harm in this world as I can.
Yes I have a house. Yes I drive to work.
But I want my house to do as little harm to the world as I can reasonably manage: I turn the lights off when I leave the room, I minimize the storm water that flows off my property.
And I fill my yard with as many plants that support local pollinators, birds, and wildlife as possible.
When I keep that ultimate goal in mind, and keep my values in mind, the definitional rabbit holes become a lot less tempting.
© 2014, Vincent Vizachero. All rights reserved. This article is the property of Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. We have received many requests to reprint our work. Our policy is that you are free to use a short excerpt which must give proper credit to the author, and must include a link back to the original post on our site. Please use the contact form above if you have any questions.
