Planting with natives

Your garden doesn't have to be all native plants. It’s better if you have a good mix of cultivated varieties and natives. This makes your garden a more balanced ecosystem allowing for a wider range of pollinators. Every plant cultivated came from some plant found in nature. They were either discovered as a slightly different form, color or texture and used to grow and cultivate for the horticulture market: greenhouses and nurseries.

Another way we get more cultivated varieties today are through breeders. A breeder cultivates a variety growing it from seed and after several generations discovers a new variety. This is called cross breeding, crossing one plant with another that has compatibility. But with their labs today, they have more precision and control in how they can separate out characteristics. Below is a short list of breeding techniques:

— Mutagenesis: The use of mutagens which are a physical or chemical agent that changes the genetic material. They use mutagens such as radiation to induce random mutations, creating the desired trait.

— Polyploidy: Multiplication of the number of chromosomes in a crop to impact its fertility.

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