Audubon North Carolina Releases Pollinator-friendly Native Plants Guide

Just in time for fall planting season, Audubon North Carolina debuts its expanded 700 bird and pollinator-friendly native plants list for North Carolina. Local nursery owners, city planners, landscapers, landscape design professionals, and gardeners interested is supporting local wildlife can download this guide for free at nc.audubon.org/700.

“Since publishing our first 400 plant list four years ago, we’ve seen native plants soar in popularity,” said Audubon North Carolina Field Organizer Kim Brand. “Everyone from home gardeners to the Governor and First Lady of North Carolina are adding bird and pollinator-friendly plants to their backyards.”

The 700 list includes plants that vary in availability from widely available at retail nurseries to available only as pass-alongs from gardeners. It can be filtered by habitat, food source type, animals benefited, wetland status, and more. Updates to the expanded list include:

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  • Every North Carolina species that appears in Dr. Larry Mellichamp’s “Native Plants of the Southeast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 460 Species for the Garden”
  • All North Carolina Botanical Garden “Wildflower of the Year” plants
  • Species in bird-friendly genera that are becoming more widely available and popular, such as sedges (Carex), Coreopsis, goldenrod (Solidago), and Viburnum

The 700 list is not a comprehensive list of all native plants in North Carolina: Plants that are absent from the list may still be native to our state, and may benefit birds or other wildlife.

To get the complete list, including references, download the spreadsheet at nc.audubon.org/700.