Re: Landscaping Woes
- Subject: Re: [SG] Landscaping Woes
- From: L* K*
- Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 09:20:27 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: - Dot Plyler, Zone 6b <Plylerd@AOL.COM>
To: <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [SG] Landscaping Woes
> Native plants are enjoying a lot of popularity right now. Is
there anyone in
> your area who designs using them? Often a lot of disease and
insect problems
> are avoided when natives are used. You might want to
investigate further.
> Hope it all turns out well.
> Dot in zone 6b in PA
I would like to second that. I have only a tiny urban yard, but
I'm finding that I'm having more success the more I use natives.
I would have thought that the conditions in my yard were so
altered from the original, by the presence of buildings, and all
the exotics in
the neighborhood, and the way the soil has been treated for the
last hundred years,
that it wouldn't make any difference. But it seems that it does.
And it does my heart
good to see the native bees and the hummingbirds and jays in my
city yard. (I've
always felt uneasy about bird feeders and red sugar water for
hummingbirds, so
I've been wanting to plant for them instead, and it seems to
work)
I have a friend who's become a native plant fanatic, but I just
interplant natives and whatever strikes my fancy. Another thing
I've been interested in is favoring things from
geographically close provinces like Mexico and Chile over the
usual Australian and South African mediterraneans that
Californians usually favor.
Lucy Kemnitzer
