Native plants host beneficial insects called “soldier bugs” because they protect your edible crops. An oak hosts more than 395 beneficial insects, for example. They feed many catepillars, which feed baby birds – the adult birds eat grasshoppers and other leaf-eaters…
Having natives creates a healthy eco-system in a food forest eliminating the need for pesticides. Also, leaf litter from natives like oaks, is a fertilizer that also suppresses weeds.
Create guilds using the natives as your canopy and the fruit trees as your subcanopy!