Re: "Time for the return of the native"
- Subject: Re: [SG] "Time for the return of the native"
- From: c* h*
- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 03:37:29 -0700
Bobbi,
In response to your quote of Ms.Harstad to quickly come to the point,much of
what she listed as offenders ,invasive?if prohibited would leave much of my
region severly stripped of plantings...
I.E. Russian olive,Barberry,cotoneaster,Spirea,Vinca etc.etc...all of these(
rugged plants to be sure)do well here BUT only if given the care of a garden
setting....Left alone to survive outside the garden they would perish..(or line
the banks of creeks/rivers only.)
That is my point we do not all live in like climates.
You/she leave no exceptions to the rules you wish to impose..Even when much of
these 'rules'are irrational or at the very least mis-applied..
Do we not have the right to shade in our garden to cool our homes as well as our
bodies?..
Do we not have the right to the beauty that these and other plantings bring to
our climate when the Native forms offer little of either..Sage brush and
cottonwood trees dont fit the needs of most home landscapes.As this is high
desert and those two are the major flora in these parts..
As to what is native and what is not..at one time this area was tropical
complete with ferns but time brings climate changes & with it plants and people
move together to survive and co-exist..
To take the easy way out and declare all plants 'guilty' until proven innocent
is just that,a tactic to placate all parties with a motivating interest in
controlling or limiting their entry.
If you really want to place your concerns where they are merited consider
studying the on going pursuit of Gene Alerted crops,and now garden plants..We
are fast breeding 'super weeds'which have cross pollinated with these crops,
breed to be Round-Up tolerant...
Mexican NATIVE corn strains grown and protected for 'lo these many centuries are
now contaminated with yes,the Gene altered seed pollen ..There is grave concern
that these strains will be lost forever and with them the ability to stave off
the multitudes of diseases to which corn is suseptible (these strains have been
used for breeding modern corn for generations for various disease resistance and
other qualities,factors.)..There is now a gene altered lawn available (unless
they have reconsidered)which would also be Round -Up ready or some comprable
chemical..Wonderful, until your crabgrass or some other noxious grass cross
pollinates with it and the corn story will repeat itself in rendering us with
'super weed grasses'as well.
Humans and plants are co-dependant creatures,and most of the plant world lives
with compatiblity ,native and non-native side by side..
There are the exceptions to be sure, as with humanity most of us get along side
by side but there is always that small percentage that do not ..In a perfect
world that would not be so..But we exist in the real world and I prefer to
consider the majority that do succeed and the ensuing joys they bring us all ..
I dont mean to imply that there isnt need for control of the true noxious
weed,but I fear we have misplaced priorities,and the tendency to get side
tracked on the trival diverting us to the significance of true threats ..
Connie
Bobbi Diehl wrote:
> 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
