Like most gardeners, I’m counting down the days to spring, when I can finally go plant shopping. And like most obsessive gardeners, I enjoy the treasure hunt of wandering around local nurseries and purchasing interesting plants that I don’t really have space for in my yard.

This year, though, I actually do have plenty of space for new plants since we recently pulled out a row of ugly bushes to make room for native wildflowers that attract butterflies. Therefore, a serious shopping spree is in order!

If you’re also interested in shopping for native plants, one of the best places to visit in this area is Carolina Wild. Christi and Greg Bruner started this small, family-owned business out of their Anderson back yard in 2002. They specialize in perennial wildflowers, offering more than 70 different species. Besides its large selection of plants, Carolina Wild also offers consultations on how to incorporate native plants into your landscape.

When you’re talking with Ms. Bruner, her passion for growing native plants is obvious. She became interested in native plants at first because of their drought and heat tolerance.

“Native plants will survive with less water and less fertilizer than most exotics,” she says. Because locally grown native plants have become adapted over the years to our specific climate, they often need less care than exotic, imported plants. For this reason, the Bruners focus exclusively on collecting and growing plants that are native to this region.

Ms. Bruner is also an advocate of native plants because of their ecological impact. Native plants are less likely to “escape” and disrupt natural habitats by spreading rampantly. And native plants are crucial for creating a wildlife habitat in your own backyard. “If you want to attract butterflies and other wildlife, native plants are superior for that,” she says.

According to Ms. Bruner, butterflies are likely to find the native plants at Carolina Wild more attractive than even the same species offered from other nurseries or seed companies.

“They select for traits like large flowers and short plants,” she explains. “[And in that process], they lose other traits, like nectar and seed traits.”

Because the plants at Carolina Wild are grown directly from seed collected in this area, you can be certain that the plants will have copious amounts of nectar and seeds to feed wildlife. To learn more about growing native plants for wildlife and to get directions to Carolina Wild, you can visit its Web site, www.carolinawild.com.

Jamie Oxley of We-Du Natives Nursery in Marion, N.C. also runs a nursery offering native plants grown from seed. One of his motivations for growing his inventory from seed is to increase the genetic diversity of plants native to the Carolinas.

“We don’t want a shallow gene pool,” says Mr. Oxley.

Another benefit of growing native plants from seed is that this genetic diversity can result in new varieties of plants that are interesting to gardeners, such as variegated leaves.

“I’m always a plant hunter,” says Mr. Oxley.

Mr. Oxley will be one of the featured speakers at the statewide symposium of the South Carolina Native Plant Society, which is scheduled for March 28 through 30 at Clemson University. Mr. Oxley will give a presentation on choosing trees, shrubs and wildflowers that have both ornamental value and wildlife uses.

More information on the conference is available at www.scnps.org/symposium.html. More information on Mr. Oxley’s nursery and his unique plant selections can be found at www.we-du.com.

Another great place to shop for native plants is the annual spring sale organized by the Upstate chapter of the S.C. Native Plant Society. They offer a wide selection of perennials, shrubs and trees grown by nurseries and SCNPS members. Members of the society are always on hand to offer growing advice. This year’s sale will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 12, in the parking lot of Jeff Lynch Appliances on Roper Mountain Road in Greenville.