Are Native Plants Hard to Grow? The Real Answer

• Give A Shit About Nature
• May 5, 2026
• Native Plants
• 0 Comments

Native plants are not, as a category, difficult to grow. They’re well-matched to the conditions they’re planted into, they don’t need fertilizer, and once established they tend to take care of themselves with minimal intervention. That’s the accurate description of what native plant gardening looks like after year two or three.

Year one is a different experience, and it’s the part that catches people off guard.

What Happens the First Year (And Why It Looks Wrong)

A newly planted native perennial or shrub tends to put almost all of its energy into root development during its first growing season. Above ground, you might see a modest amount of foliage and probably no blooms. The plant looks small, maybe even struggling, while a nearby non-native annual is already flowering and filling in the bed.

This isn’t failure. It’s the plant doing exactly what it should. Backyard Ecology explains it well: the vegetative growth you see in year one exists primarily to gather sunlight to fuel root development underground. The plant isn’t sleeping. It’s building the infrastructure that will eventually make it drought-tolerant, pest-resistant, and largely self-sufficient.

The gardening world has a phrase for this pattern: “sleep, creep, leap.” First year, the plant sleeps. Second year, it creeps — some visible growth, maybe some blooms. Third year, it leaps into something that looks like the plant you imagined when you bought it. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center puts it directly: establishing native plants in your garden usually requires as much work as establishing non-native species, but once they’re established, the maintenance picture changes significantly.

The problem is that most people evaluate a plant at the end of year one and conclude something went wrong.

What “Hard to Grow” Usually Actually Means

When people say native plants are hard to grow, they’re usually describing one of two things: the establishment period, or a mismatch between plant and site.

The establishment period is the sleep-creep-leap issue above. It requires patience more than skill, and watering during dry spells in the first growing season. Michigan State University Extension notes that weekly deep watering in the first few weeks after planting, particularly during dry weather, significantly improves survival. After the first season, many native species with deep root systems require little to no supplemental watering.

The site mismatch issue is trickier and more common than people realize. A native plant selected for the wrong moisture level, sun exposure, or soil type will struggle, and this gets attributed to native plants being difficult when it’s actually a sourcing and selection problem. A swamp milkweed planted in dry sandy soil isn’t going to thrive, but that’s not a statement about native plants as a category. It’s a statement about that specific plant in that specific spot.

The fix is matching plants to your actual conditions. Starting a native plant garden involves an honest look at what your yard actually has, not what you wish it had. Sun exposure, soil drainage, and moisture levels determine which plants will establish easily and which will struggle regardless of how carefully you tend them.

What Low-Maintenance Actually Looks Like

The claim that native plants are low-maintenance is true, but it applies to established plants, not newly planted ones. UGA Extension is straightforward about this: a well-established native landscape often needs no supplemental watering at all. No fertilizer is needed because native plants evolved in local soils and are adapted to their nutrient levels. Pest pressure is generally lower because native insects and native plants have co-evolved in ways that don’t produce the same boom-bust dynamics you see when non-native ornamentals are attacked by pests they have no evolved defense against.

That low-maintenance reality kicks in somewhere between year two and year three for most perennials, and somewhat later for woody shrubs. Research on established native grass plantings in California found that once established, native plantings can persist with minimal maintenance for a decade or more, retaining high proportions of native species with little intervention.

The tradeoff is clear: more attention in years one and two, substantially less afterward. Native plants that spread over time do the maintenance work themselves as they fill in, outcompeting weeds and reducing the bare soil where new weeds would otherwise germinate.

The Biggest Actual Challenges

Being honest: there are a few real difficulties worth naming.

Finding the right plants. Native plant availability at mainstream garden centers has improved but still lags behind demand. Big box stores often stock non-native versions of plants that look similar to natives, sometimes under names that cause confusion. Buying from a reputable native plant nursery or a local native plant society sale makes a meaningful difference in what you’re actually getting.

Weed pressure in year one. Before native plants have filled in enough to shade out competition, bare soil between plants becomes weed habitat. A layer of wood chip mulch reduces this significantly, and leaving leaf litter in place rather than removing it mimics the woodland floor conditions many native plants evolved in. Neither of these is demanding, but they require some forethought.

Managing expectations about appearance. A native plant garden in its first season looks different from a conventional garden. Sparse. Unfinished. This is a psychological challenge more than a horticultural one, but it causes real abandonment of otherwise viable plantings. Knowing in advance that the first year is supposed to look this way makes it easier to stay the course.

Starting in a Way That Works

If this is your first time with native plants, starting small and strategic beats starting ambitious and burning out. A single bed, a few species you’ve researched for your specific conditions, plants you can get at a local native plant sale rather than shipped from across the country — this is how most successful native gardens begin.

Fall planting works particularly well for native perennials in most of the country. Cooler temperatures and fall rains support establishment without the heat stress of summer, giving plants a head start on root development before the following growing season. Native plants in pots are also a legitimate starting point if in-ground planting feels overwhelming, particularly for testing which species do well in your conditions before committing to a larger installation.

The plants that look like they’re doing nothing in September are often the ones that leap the following June. That patience is the main skill native plant gardening asks for, and it’s not really that much to ask.

FAQ

Do native plants need fertilizer? Generally no. Native plants evolved in local soils and are adapted to their nutrient levels. Adding fertilizer can actually cause problems for some species, producing excessive leafy growth at the expense of flowering. Compost mixed into the planting hole at installation is usually sufficient.

How much do I need to water native plants? During the first growing season, weekly deep watering during dry periods significantly improves establishment. After that, many native species with deep root systems require little to no supplemental watering, depending on your climate and the specific plants you chose.

Why won’t my native plant bloom? In year one, most native perennials put energy into root development rather than flowering. This is normal and expected. If a plant is in its second season and still not blooming, consider whether the sun exposure or soil moisture matches what the species needs.

Are native plants more deer-resistant? Some are, some aren’t. Deer resistance is species-specific rather than a blanket feature of native plants. Many natives are indeed avoided by deer, but others are browsed readily. Native plants with deer-resistant characteristics include aromatic species, those with fuzzy or rough textures, and plants with naturally unpalatable compounds.

Can I grow native plants from seed? Yes, though many require a cold stratification period to germinate, which means either sowing in fall and letting winter do the work, or refrigerating seeds for several weeks before spring planting. Starting from potted plants purchased from a native nursery is easier for beginners and gives you a head start on establishment.