Natives are Easier. Yeah, right!

Guest Rant by Horticulturist Angela Treadwell-Palmer

Today, I’m going to introduce you to one of my great loves, The Native Plants in the Landscape Conference, but first, I must rant.  

If I hear one more horticultural lecture touting native plants as easy solutions to all your gardening woes, I think I’ll slit my wrist.   

Come on folks.  Who are you kidding?  

There is no such thing as an easy, foolproof plant – unless it’s a weed.  They are easy, they’ll grow anywhere AND they need no water or fertilizer. Haha! 

What more could you ask for in a plant?  They even grow in cracks and out the sides of old buildings in cities where nothing will grow.  Can you say Tree of Heaven (Alianthus altissima)?  

I’m here to tell you exactly what the native plant pushers don’t want you to hear.  Native plants are not usually easier and they require no less care than any other ornamental.  Some are even more difficult to grow. 

Gasp…I can see the angry comments now. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am a true native plant lover and advocate, but I hate to see people mislead by false statements.  It is true that exotics (non-natives) will get insects in spots where natives will not because they have inherently resistant genes, but what these pushers don’t tell you is there are just as many non-native pests in today’s gardens.  Native plants, no matter how resistant they are to our bugs, are not genetically resistant to bugs from Europe and Asia.   

Ever heard of the Asian Longhorn Beetle?   

It attacked millions of native (yes, native) ash (Fraxinus sp.) trees in the Mid-West and it’s now working on some new Mid-Atlantic haunts.  This is a prime example of native plants being wiped out by foreign pests.   

Native plant pushers should be telling you to plant native plants to enhance biodiversity and to feed the good bugs.  That’s right, I said FEED the bugs.  Doug Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens says it best.   

“Planting natives is a grassroots approach to conservation.” says Tallamy. He also says, “Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.” 

Tallamy, a University of Delaware Entomology professor, believes that biodiversity can be managed just as we manage our water resources, clean air, and energy.  He says families and kids can play a big role in the development process by planting more native plants at home.  

Doug stresses we must provide the two things all species need: food and shelter. “Fortunately, unlike most of our water or energy supplies, biodiversity is a renewable resource that is relatively easy to increase,” he says.  

Doug’s fascinating research proves natives are essential.  Without native plants in every backyard, commercial property and wild area, there will be no native birds and insects in the future.  They’ll have nothing to eat.  This is a case where bugs and birds eating plants is a good thing. 

A list of native plants and the amount of species they support is available on Doug Tallamy’s website.

Why aren’t the native plant pushers teaching this? 

Instead they teach that native plants will get no insect damage, need no watering or fertilizer.  That’s complete hogwash! 

They WILL get insect damage.  We want the insect damage. 

You can’t have Monarch butterflies unless there are common milkweeds (Asclepias syriaca) for them to eat.   There would be no Baltimore Checkerspot butterflies without white turtlehead (Chelone glabra). 

Should I go on? 

Did you know Bluejays feed on blue spruce (Picea pungens) pinecones (the seeds within them)? 

There are so many fascinating, life-dependent, plant-insect relationships - I could go on and on.  Read his book.  You’ll be amazed! 

In most cases, native plants don’t need less water and they still need food.  

If you were to live in a place where there were virgin woods and virgin land, this might be the case, but there are not many places left in the US where we have such pristine conditions.   

If you live in a development – chances are they brought in topsoil from off-site to fill in around your foundation when it was built.  Chances are, they also took any native soils away when they excavated.   

It’s rare to find virgin, native soils on any property inhabited by humans; therefore, you’d be planting plants that want virgin, native soil in crappy construction soil that has been processed and has no trace of “native” left in its makeup. 

Teaching people about natives is terrific.  I support anyone who tries.  I teach and lecture all the time on native plants. 

But… 

Teaching naive homeowners, and in most cases, virgin gardeners that natives are easy is wrong.  It's so wrong, that they will surely fail and never plant natives again.  Natives need lots of love, just like most other ornamental plants.  I stopped practicing landscape design because I was so tired of people asking for plants that needed no care – I couldn’t take it anymore.  Even yews and junipers need care – you have to trim them, right?   

There’s no such thing as no care!  I hate to break it to you all.  I apologize for possibly preaching to the choir, but I needed to get this out. 

That said - come learn why we need native plants to survive and everything you ever wanted to know about choosing them, designing with them, conservation efforts and teaching about them at The Native Plants in The Landscape Conference, held each June on the campus of Millersville University near historic Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  We'll be celebrating the conference's 20th anniversary this year.   

This is the conference everyone talks about! 

This is a one of a kind conference.   The conference was started by my wonderful friend FM Mooberry.  FM is a tireless advocate for landscaping with natives.  She started the native plant program at the Brandywine River Museum.  She has taught many the benefit of planting with natives and her progeny, this conference, will teach 400 people a year how to embrace native plants.   

Attending the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference will recharge you and have you dreaming of ways to incorporate natives into every space and garden you see.  From composting to basic plant identification: landscape design and ecological restoration, there’s something for everyone. 

This is my baby.  I have been involved with this conference in since 1992.  I took over as director in 2003 and this will be my seventh year as director.  I love it and I volunteer a lot of my time to make this conference happen. 

The Native Plants in the Landscape conference is orchestrated by volunteers who donate a lot of love and time to make this one of the best educational values offered.   We all do it for the love of educating.  The three-day event held on the campus of Millersville University blossoms into one massive native plant community full of networking and learning opportunities year after year. 

Attendees come from near and far (as far away as OR and CA) to attend this conference each year.  This is no local event.  The speakers are amazing, the food and housing are really great considering it’s a college campus and we have one heck of a great bluegrass band that entertains us each year.  

Headlining this year is William (Bill) Cullina, Director of Horticulture at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden.  Bill's first lecture, called Raveling and Unraveling the Web of Life, will open your eyes to the concept that land has a life span and how this life span can bring some perspective to terms like "extinction" and "native".

We also have Neil Diboll from Prairie Nursery, Roy Diblik from Northwind Perennials and Richard Bir, former NC State professor coming to speak on all things native.  There are talks on stewartias, woodland wildflowers, ferns and green roofs.  Designers will learn how to shake up foundation plantings with natives and how to design with mosses.  Beginners will love the plant ID classes and nursery professionals will learn lots about the good and bad of invasive plants and insects. 

There's even a lecture on short native plants by our favorite vertically challenged friend.  The first person (who is not this person) who guesses the name of this speaker can have an Echinacea 'Marmalade' for their garden. 

There truly is something for everyone at this conference! The native plant and book sale that surpass any garden center I’ve ever visited.  Locals come to shop even if they aren’t attending the conference.  You can too! 

Please consider attending this awesome event and pass this along to anyone you think might be interested in learning about native plants.  Professional designers, educators, nursery professionals and novices will learn plenty. 

Come learn the real truth and beauty of using natives.  I guarantee you will not be disappointed! 

Download the 2010 Conference Brochure and Program here. You can also visit our website to get complete information and to register on-line: www.millersvillenativeplants.org.

Comments

[Chris Upton]

Always great speakers; outgoing, informed, intelligent attendees; good vendors; a good value. The most low pressure fun you can have in two days.

[greg draiss]

Fiannly someone else with common sense here. All the talk that native plants are a must in the landscape. These purists make one think that all the native plants are gone from the wild!
The TROLL

[Ginny Stibolt]

Angela, good post. I'm not a native plant purist and advise people that if they have a non-native plant that is working well in their landscapes, it is most sustainable to keep it as long as it's not invasive. The reason native plants are highly recommended here in Florida is that they have adapted to little or no freezing weather and our wet and dry seasons. Plants from the Mid-Atlantic region, say, with its winters and even precipitation, often have a hard time surviving here. That being said, much of Florida no longer resembles the 1600s Florida when those native plants ruled. So homeowners need to work on restoring their soil/plant ecosystem where those natives will once again thrive and provide food and shelter for the butterflies and other bugs, which feed the birds, bats, and other bug predators. Once the ecosystem is working, native plants do indeed require much less care than imports that are expecting a different environment.

[Benjamin]

With over wintering monarchs devastated by 50% or more (as in dead), I wholeheartedly say teach native in teh way Tallamy suggests--and his book changed my life. But if we can finda way to kill grasshoppers.... Some day we'll all wake up and wonder, like I wonder where my car keys are right now, why we no longer see monarchs or orioles.

[Doug Green]

Good post Angela - as for vertically challenged speakers - there's only one "favorite" - the diva herself - Stephanie C.

[Eliza]

Astroturf needs no care. ;)

I am feeling a surge of respect for my local native plant society. I do think natives require less care (once established, and in the right spot) than many non-natives. However, the main talking point our native plant society sells is that they replenish habitat (and food) for wildlife. Plus they're darned pretty.

That said, I'll still grow my organic roses and annual veggies, too.

[frank@nycgarden]

Troll,I'm not hearing anything but about natives in the rant. I'm no horticulturalist nor visit many conferences or hear really anyone pushing the drug we call native plants(except in blogtown). Yet I do have some sense, and am intelligent enough to know that a garden is work and play. That said, I essentially never water my garden with its native asters, milkweed, coneflower, phlox, ferns, solidago, eupatorium, etc. and roses, sedums, yarrows, lavender, sages, bulbs, etc etc. Natives or not, a garden is an environment. Choose well. And I accept my bugs. Gardeners get it. Homeowners with yards to fill perfectly, that's something else and sales pitches are snake oil by definition. I like Bill Cullina and it does sound like a good conference.

[Two Green Acres]

Great rant Angela. I think the reason native pushers focus on the "less work" angle is that is a much easier and more appealing argument than Doug Tallamy's. I have to say, until I read his book I never focused on the need to feed bugs if we want butterflies, birds, etc. Too many people - and I used to be one of them - think of most bugs as "the enemy."

I signed up for the conference last week and am really looking forward to it!

[Ray]

Great intro to native plants. One caution I think is of importance (other than no garden is maintenance free which you stated so well) is that even natives can be invasive. For example, milkweed does bring the monarchs but letting the flowers go to seed and spread without control leads to an attempted milkweed coup in taking over the garden.

[John]

Desiring a plant that blooms continuously, requires no care and behaves perfectly is a fine ideal - but it's NOT GARDENING! Over time I have become one of those more direct people that butts in and bluntly informs the person asking for such a plant just how lovely some of the newer plastic flowers and astroturf are. I don't waste my time explaining it beyond that.

[Town Mouse]

Well, quite a rant there! Now, on the one hand, I really agree. It's sad to see people stick a few natives in the ground, ignore them for 3-6 months, and complain that they die. Insects will nibble at natives, though for me, having a low water garden really cuts down on slugs. Natives need care, and need the right condition to thrive.

On the other hand, I do believe that California natives and Mediterranean plants need much less water than most ornamentals. I spend less time working in my native garden than people with lawns. And who are those mythical native plant pushers anyway?

BTW, I LOVE the Tallamy book and recommend it to everyone, but his plant list is sadly lacking for those on the west coast. If you live in California, go to www.cnps.org, or have a look at my article on finding appropriate plants for where you live here http://tmousecmouse.blogspot.com/2009/11/where-are-you-planted.html

Have fun at the conference!

[Michelle]

Thank you for promoting Tallamy's book!

"Why aren’t the native plant pushers teaching this? "

Well, I am a native plant pusher, and I *am* teaching this. I just wrote the first of a series of articles for my local newspaper on the benefits of native plants, and I did not harp on how much easier they are to grow. I used the article to promote Tallamy's book and local sources of native plants.

[Joseph Tychonievich]

Minor point, but I think you got your non-native pests mixed up. Emerald Ash Borer is what is eliminating ash trees here in the Mid-West.
Asian Longhorn Beetle is a newer, emerging plague -- mostly a problem in the NY area right now, I believe, but may well be on its way to kill FAR more than just ash trees.

[sara]

I haven't had the experience that native plants are more maintenance free than non-natives either.

Honestly, it could be a native plant, but what zone in your state should it actually be growing in? Something else to consider.

[Claire Splan]

Thanks for this rant. Speaking as someone who has killed a number of native plants now, I think it's time we started a Truther movement about natives. People should plant some natives, by all means, but a little reality check is a good thing.

[Ginny Stibolt]

Ray, By definition a plant native to an area is not invasive. Agressive maybe, but not invasive.

[susan harris]

Town Mouse, one example of over-marketing of native plants from "pushers" is this info about organic gardening from the NWF:

"Plant native plants which can hold their own against native pests."

No mention of all the nonnative pests that are the reality of gardening in the 21st century.

Here's the source - which stresses native plants for gardening organically. http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Gardening-Tips/Organic-Gardening.aspx
Better gardening advice would be to recommend well-adapted plants from wherever. Y'all in arid climates are so right about YOUR native plants (and those from S. Africa and the Mediterranean)- they ARE more drought-tolerant than the average import. Our native East Coast woodland plants? Not so much.

[Deirdre]

"Ray, By definition a plant native to an area is not invasive. Agressive maybe, but not invasive."

Ginny, you must not be familiar with horsetail in the Pacific Northwest. It IS invasive in the artificial environment of a garden.

[Michelle]

Deirdra, an invasive species is one which moves in and takes over an ecosystem to the detriment of other species. Your garden does not constitute an ecosystem.

[Michelle]

. . .excure me, I meant to say that your "artificial environment" garden does notnot constitute an ecosystem. Some gardeners do, however, strive to recreate the local, native ecosystem with their gardens.

[Michelle]

Argh, I am full of typos today!

[anne]

Thank you for your wonderful, timely rant! Tomorrow I am going to pick up my order of native trees and shrubs from my local Soil & Water Conservation District--the great prices are what sold me on placing the order--and in my preparation for their planting and care I can see I will be spending just as much time and energy on care for these as on my soon-to-be-planted veggie garden!

[donna]

I've learned to think in terms of climate rather than native (indigenous, actually) vs. non-native. If you need to use a non-native to create the right climate for your other natives, do so. My garden is a mix of both native/non-native and much happier for it...

[Kathy J, Washington Gardener Mag]

My native-pusher pet peeve is all the ones who claim that you should plant them because they are "drought-tolerant" - um, NO, in general, they are not. Most all native plants to my 'hood are bog dwellers and prefer wet feet. I have lots of dry shade and no natural creek running through it. Many natives have come to my garden and croaked or just "evaporated" after one year because I do not irrigate nor baby my plants. Survival of the fittest, honey, in my little garden kingdom. Native or not, it is all about right plant, right place.

[Hoover]

I'm happy (and surprised) to see someone say that native plants are not the 100% perfect solution 100% of the time. Very refreshing!

A garden may no longer be a "native" environment. There are space limitations, often the native soil has been removed by the builder, drainage has been altered, the microclimate itself has been affected by concrete driveways, buildings, and so on.

And what about the gardeners who grows their own food? Are they irresponsible for growing "non-native" fruits and vegetables?