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Comment by anthomtb | Hacker News Reader

> PLEASE be sure to plant only species and varieties native to YOUR area. It's much more beneficial all around than random "wildflowers"

I get the sentiment but the swarm of bees* on my Russian sage, some 9000km away from Moscow, makes one wonder about this advice.

*all sorts, not only European honeybees

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The problem is that non-native species, planted with the best of intentions, can become invasive and choke out native populations. See for example the Buddleia, which in the UK was often lauded as 'the butterfly bush' and which is now a massive nuisance across the nations railways and wildlife reserves.

Similarly, birds love Asian honeysuckle in the U.S., but the fruit is basically sugar water and the plant aggressively crowds out most native plants.

I love the scent of honeysuckle. It makes it hard to know that it's invasive because I'd love to have it around the house.

I have Buddleia in my garden (which otherwise has a native focus). It's not at all invasive where I am, in upstate NY, probably due to the cold winters. In a colder winter it dies back to the roots and may not survive at all.

Now, purple loosestrife is still all over, despite the biocontrol. And don't get me started about Phragmites or Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard).

I figure that native plants give an edge to native pollinators. The explosion of spotted lantern flies shows how non-native plants can make things worse. Also, I'm ignorant when it comes to ecology. So I won't pretend to know how many roles a native plant plays throughout its lifecycle, let alone which non-native plants can fit those roles while looking pretty.

From what I've learned, there are generalist pollinators (i.e. european honeybees) and specialist pollinators (i.e. your local native bees). Generalists can use any plant, but specialists require particular plants to complete their life cycles. So your intuition is basically correct; the honeybees won't care, but the native ones will appreciate a native plant.

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