"Time for the return of the native"
- Subject: "Time for the return of the native"
- From: B* D*
- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 20:51:08 -0500
My friend Carolyn Harstad, who is admittedly a lover of native plants (she
wrote the book GO NATIVE! on gardening with native plants in the Midwest),
posted this to me in response to Marge's thoughtful essay. I guess I am
somewhere in between, but I am with her when she writes "we are messing up
our environment without a doubt, and part of the reason is that 'by darn,
no one is going to tell me what to do with my yard' attitude" (I am
paraphrasing; for the exact quote see below). She agreed that I could
share her reply with the list in hopes of generating more discussion.
Admittedly, most exotics are probably harmless. It's a question of the
enormous harm done by a tiny minority.
Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 14:53:16 -0500
From: Carolyn <pharstad@iupui.edu>
To: Bobbi Diehl <diehlr@indiana.edu>
Subject: Another point of view
Hi Bobbi,
Your friend writes . . .
> Noxious weeds and invasive plants are not caused by
> ornamental gardening.
Not entirely true. Some exotics are well behaved, but not all. It is a
proven fact that plants like Amur Maple, Burning Bush, Vinca minor, Euonymus
fortunei, Amur and Tatarian Honeysuckle, European Bittersweet, and and even
some forms of Butterfly Bush have escaped to the wild, causing a lot of
problems for the environment and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
Look at Purple Loosestrife. It was in my Iowa City garden back in the 1970s
and I loved it. I bought the cultivar called 'Mordent's Pink' which is
supposed to be sterile, yet I constantly gave its seedlings to my friends.
Bachelor's Buttons are beautiful, but are spreading all over rangelands in
the West, causing problems for ranchers. Japanese Barberry, Cotoneaster, and
Japanese Spirea are favorites in the landscaping business. These are more
of the plants that have escaped to the wild and planting them should not be
encouraged.
Multiflora rose, Russian Olive, and Crown Vetch were promoted by the DOT for
erosion control for years. Now we know that these are not what they were
cracked up to be. I hope that now the DOT knows too. In fact Crown Vetch has
a carrot-like root and actually encourages erosion. Deep rooted native
grasses would be a much better choice. When we lived in Minnesota in the
1980s we paid the city to plant two Norway Maples in our median. These were
part of a list of their recommended trees. Norway Maple displaces native
Sugar Maples and is not a good choice, I now know. But look at streets all
over the Midwest and you will see many many of these exotic trees. And no
one denies they are attractive trees. But not the best for the environment,
I fear.
Quite frankly, I think it is time for the return of the native. And
yes, even some natives can become weedy and invasive when they are out of
their territory. It behooves us all to take a careful look at what we
encourage in our landscapes and in commerce. We are messing up our
environment without a doubt and part of the reason is because of our
insistence on being able to do "whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever
we want, and by darn, no one--but NO ONE is going to tell me what to plant
in MY yard." I fear we may have to rethink that premise or we may find
ourselves responsible for a lot of problems that may directly impact each of
us.
We have no control over where the birds drop our exotic seeds. We can't be
assured that our shoes won't spread seeds as we tramp through our state
parks. If we are by a waterway, we have no guarantee that seeds won't
travel down a fast moving stream, taking up residence downstream. Or that
our automobile tires won't bear some invasive seeds to another location.
Our ever increasing development creates disturbed land, the mecca of many of
these invasives.
Our environment is more fragile than we realize. It is up to each of us
to be responsible and do whatever is necessary to preserve it, even if it
means limiting our plant choices.
Carolyn
--
Carolyn Harstad
5952 Lieber Road
Indianapolis, IN 46228-1319
(317) 257-9452 (phone and fax)
pharstad@iupui.edu
