Foreign "pest-proof plants" have little to offer other than competition. Instead, we are trying to restore the rich web of life that includes birds and “baby food” (caterpillars) for their nestlings need to thrive. Our collection is confined to native plants of the continental United States and not just Milton’s Blue Hills. These plants evolved as part of the wild food chain before the arrival of European colonists, who brought their own plants from home. Indigenous insects were not adapted to eating many of these new plants, which now comprise about 90 percent of the plants in our gardens. We hope to encourage gardeners to enjoy more birds and butterflies by planting more of the original species that support them, and to learn that most insects are good for the garden and help bring it to life.

The Milton Garden Club voted to develop a GCA's "Partners for Plants" project (P4P) in the fall of 2011 at the site of a  former wildflower garden located at the entrance of the Blue Hills Trailside Museum.   A P4P  is a joint initiative of the Horticulture and Conservation Committees that pairs local GCA clubs with state and federal land managers and significant city and county parks (150 acres and more) to monitor rare, endangered, medicinal or invasive plants.  The wildflower meadow had been created many years before by a local girl scout troop.  It was difficult to maintain and it soon became overgrown with more aggressive invasive plants. Garden Club members collaborated with Ale Echandi, a Natural Resource Specialist from the DCR in conjunction with Norman Smith, the Director of  the Trailside Museum,  Irina Kadis, Curatorial Assistant at the Dana Greenhouse at the Arnold Arboretum, and Carol Stocker a horticulturist, author and educator, in addition to being a club member.  The goal was to identify,  monitor and remove the invasive species and create an educational garden that would feature native plants.

The shrubs and trees you now see  are easier to maintain and provide a greater biomass of nutrients for wildlife. This garden now includes an assortment of native viburnum, hydrangea, dogwood, blueberry, holly, witch hazel, and redbud; in addition, pretty but relatively low- maintenance native perennials include amsonia, black-eyed Susan, Joe Pye weed, heliopsis, Solomon seal and butterfly weed. Many of these plants were purchased from the non-profit New England Wild Flower Society, the country's oldest plant conservation organization, which propagates hundreds of native plants from seed and sells them to promote their use in domestic landscapes. Thanks to such efforts, the use of native plants has become a revolution in gardening. Once hard to find, they are now for sale at almost every good nursery.  Ask for them!