TOWSON, Md. — The Green Towson Alliance has launched its annual native garden contest, encouraging homeowners to incorporate Maryland's native plants, shrubs, and trees into their lawns and backyards to benefit local ecosystems.
Patty Mochel helps to the run the competition that began a few years ago.
“The bird population is dropping. The butterfly population is dropping, and plenty of other insects,” Mochel said. “People don't realize that insects are vital. Insects are food for more than birds and amphibians, but like 30% of a fox's diet.”
In Lutherville, an expansive native garden stands out from the traditional manicured lawns that line the street, featuring last year’s winners: Rahul Bharadwaj and Rujuta Narurkar.
The couple has spent five years building their native plant paradise, which began with a grant from the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy to build a rain garden in the backyard.
"The concept here, I think, is like seek and Mother Nature will find you," Bharadwaj said.
As their collection of native plants flourished, so did the wildlife – attracting native pollinators like bees which there are 400 species native to Maryland, as well as dragonflies, birds, and deer to their yard.
"And we were thinking, what are we doing? I mean, are we crazy? And we were like, OK, but if it's good crazy, why not?" Bharadwaj said.
“When I come here and I see this, it's like a paradise," Mochel said.
Narurkaror and Bharadwaj won the highest honor in 2024 "Homegrown National Park" which features at least 70% or more native species.
The contest is now accepting new entries through July 3.
Participants won't win money, but rather the satisfaction of knowing a little bit of extra effort can benefit both themselves and the environment.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, 12% of U.S. adults are converting parts of their traditional lawns to natural landscapes.
Native plants can offer more advantages beyond their beauty.
"They're also really well adapted to our local climate, hydrology, and soils, so they have really good survival rates, especially when we're having variable temperatures or different kind of seasonal changes. Those plants are pretty hardy," Laura Todd, a senior green infrastructure projects manager at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, said.
Native gardens can also help manage storm water runoff, which is the "fastest-growing source of pollution" in the Chesapeake Bay according to Todd.
“We have those swales or the wood chips that are the lanes that run in between the plants, and they have a way of harboring all of the rainwater to prevent runoff in a big way," Bharadwaj said.
“Even a small impact like on a single yard does make a difference for local water quality because eventually all of the water from our local creeks does eventually wind up in the bay," Todd said.
The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay maintains an online database of native plants, The Native Plant Center, for those interested in creating their own native garden paradise.
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