The choices of plants for the garden are endless. It seems these days you can get almost anything you would want to plant in your landscape. There are so many in fact ,you can make your landscape into any type of garden.

Generally choices like this are wonderful. Who wants to be limited to just a few types of plants, right?

There are a few things to consider when plant shopping. Plants are either native to the area, naturalized but are not native, or non-native invasive.

Native plants are plants that naturally occur to a particular region. Naturalized non-native plants are considered to be plants that were introduced by humans, but do not pose a threat to other plant species or the ecosystem.

Non-native invasive plants are those that have been introduced by humans and have the ability to spread and invade areas where they were not planted. The most famous non-native invasive in the South is kudzu.

Non-native invasive plants typically take over valuable acreage, like once usable farmland for example, and prohibit a productive use. They also crowd out other plants from establishing by proving to be too much competition, thus reducing plant diversity. Plant diversity is needed to provide wildlife valuable resources for shelter and food.

When it comes to establishing a low-maintenance, tough landscape, using natives is the sure way to go. But make sure they are native to the area. Not all natives are created equally.

Mesquite can be considered a native in a broad sense, but if planted here, it would not do well at all. But if you go with native plants that have roots in the northern part of Georgia, you will usually not have too much trouble with the plant thriving in your landscape.

So why are native plants so much better to grow than naturalized ones?

Well for one, they have grown generation after generation for thousands of years in the area. They are adapted to the weather conditions, soil and pests. They have figured out how to survive with little to no trouble and provide many benefits to wildlife. After all, deer, birds and other animals and insects have adapted to the same conditions as the native plants they use for food, cover and shelter.

Yes, deer may use a native azalea as a buffet line from time to time, but the plant is conditioned to it and has figured out ways to tolerate wildlife pressure.

Once established, native plants do not need much care, even in times of extreme weather. They also improve biodiversity by encouraging many different plants to grow in the same area, and in return, many species of insects and wildlife are encouraged.

One aspect of using native plants is purely aesthetic. Since these plants occur all round us in the woods and forests of the area, native plants mimic naturalized areas when planted in a completely man-made landscape.

Native plants in a flower garden or in a special feature of your landscape will improve not only the look of your place, but also the maintenance costs in the long run.

You will not have to spend as much time watering and lugging garden hoses around the yard. Applications of fungicides and insecticides to keep them healthy will be less frequent.

So get into native planting and be the envy of all the neighbors with your low maintenance landscape that looks like it came off the cover of a magazine.

Michael Wheeler is county extension coordinator for the UGA Cooperative Extension in Hall County. You can contact him at 770-535-8293, www.hallcounty.org/extension. His column appears weekly and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.