Native Plants

Providing wildlife habitat with trees, shrubs, and ground cover.

Our environment is your backyard. About 1500 years ago, before humans altered the lowland forests, your backyard was the habitat for native birds and the native plants that grew there served as their source of food and shelter.

Today there are 317 threatened and endangered species in the State of Hawaii, of which 273 are plants. Most of these bird and plant survivors now grow in the wild only in very remote areas. Almost 90% of the plants commonly grown in our urban and suburban areas of the islands are not native. You can help reverse this trend. When you grow native trees, shrubs and other plants in your backyard above 4000 feet elevation, you help create habitat and provide food and shelter for Hawaii’s native forest birds. Planting native trees and shrubs at any elevation provides habitat to Hawaii’s unique native pollinating insects.

Many of native Hawaiian plants are beautiful, easy to grow and available to purchase through local nurseries. If unique is what you seek, endemic plants are native to Hawaii and found nowhere else in the world! Some endangered species such as Hawaii’s State Flower, Hibiscus brackenridgei, are available at local nurseries and can be easily grown in the home garden. Add them to your garden to help preserve Hawaii’s biological heritage. Never harvest these plants from the wild ~ it’s against the law. Also, do not plant cultivated plants in the wild unless it is an approved restoration project. Weeds, pests, and diseases can be unintentionally spread to pristine areas through contaminated plant materials.

Source: "Hawaii Backyard Conservation" (PDF), The U.S. Department of Agriculture.