Re: Road Salt Tolerance

> I'm looking for a list of perennials that are tolerant of roadside 
> conditions, including automobile pollution and road salt.  It is easy to find 
> lists of salt-tolerant woody plants, but my web search didn't turn up 
> anything on perennials. I realize they are not above ground in the winter, 
> but still some of them are going to be sensitive to the build up of salts 
> from snow removal.  If you have experience or references to share, I will 
> appreciate it.  :Janis

Hi Janis,

   I'd strongly recommend checking out David MacKenzie's book, 
   Perennial Ground Covers (or it's non-Timber Press predecessor,
   "Complete Manual of Perennial Ground Covers" published by
   Prentice-Hall but no longer in publication).

   The book is excellent and doesn't cover groundcovers the way that
   we think of them -- his idea of a groundcover is anything that
   fills in a space.  

   Anyhow, in the very back is an excellent 14-page table that 
   lists all kinds of information like tolerance towards foot
   traffic or salt, suitability for erosion control, sensitivity
   to fire, soil preference, moisture preferences, etc...

   If anyone wants to buy it (and help support the list financially :)
   this link will take you to it at Amazon.com:

      http://www.mallorn.com/bookstore/lists/review.cgi?ISBN=0881923680

   Scanning quickly through the list, these genera are listed as
   salt tolerant:

      Acacia
      Ammophila
      Aptenia
      Arctostaphylos
      Arenaria
      Armeria
      Artemisia
      Atriplex
      Aubrieta
      Calamovilfa
      Cistus
      Clethra
      Comptonia
      Conradina
      Cytisus
      Erica
      Euryops
      Forsythia
      Juniperus (only J. communis, conferta, horizontalis, virginiana and
                 cultivars)
      Muehlenbeckia 
      Parthenocissus
      Rosa wichuraiana

   I would think that Lathyrus japonica, Lupinus littoralis, Angelica
   lucida, Mertensia maritima, Tanacetum bipinnatum, Aster subspicatus, 
   Abronia latifolia (or umbellata), Convolvulus soldanella, Rosa rugosa
   or any of the other plants commonly found on beach areas on the East
   and West coasts would do just fine... 

Hope that helps,

Chris
Ye Olde Listowner

P.S.  There Marge, I put the listowner thing in...  :)  

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