Epiphany: A sudden illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure. An intuitive grasp of reality. For the longest time I found myself not able to fall asleep nightly due to ruminating about poplar bears drowning due to melting ice in the Arctic, the intentional burning of the rainforests in Brazil to make more space for meat cattle or growing coffee, the rounding up and slaughter of wild horses in the west to make more space available for ranging cattle and the abuse of animals, both wild and domestic, throughout the world. These were only some of the many environmental and humane issues that routinely bothered and perplexed me daily and nightly. At that time in my life, I was a designer of gardens and environments hired by businesses and homeowners who wanted show stopping landscapes. I was successful at what I did and proud of my artistic accomplishments. However, year after year, no matter how many causes I supported, all the issues that haunted me, continued and grew worse. One night, about 15 years ago, while again pondering the issues of the world, and especially my inability to change any of them for the better in any significant way, I had one of those ‘light-bulb’ moments. I realized that I could reimagine my landscape business and completely transform it by only utilizing native plants. I could modify one property at a time, whether it was a home owner’s, a public space or a business environment and do so by planting native plants. By this simple act, I would be supporting the constantly diminishing numbers of native insects, birds and animals that live in my environment. I now had a mission in life that did not depend on other people or organizations. This mission has given me a purpose and passion that sustains me today and every day. I can change the world for the better and I can start on my own property! According to Douglas Tallamy in his best-selling book, ‘Bringing Nature Home’, a native plant is the term used to describe a plant that is endemic, indigenous, or naturalized to a given area, ecosystem, in geological time. It is a plant that can function within a community that historically has shaped it. In North America, a plant is usually considered native if it was present before colonization by Europeans. Exotic and invasive plants are species whose evolutionary history occurred elsewhere. In their habitat, ecosystem, native plants must be able to interact with other native plants, insects, animals, soil conditions (pH factors), soil’s microorganisms, climate conditions (including weather and temperatures), specific environmental terrain, rain level and local diseases spread by insects and plants. This is possible because all the habitat’s animals, insects and plants have coevolved with each other. Each member of the habitat constantly influences the evolution of the other members of their unique environment. Because native plants have co-evolved with all members of their ecosystem, they do the best job of providing food and shelter for native wildlife including animals, insects and birds. All plant species have a unique leaf chemistry. It is Mother Nature’s defense system for a species rooted in the ground that can not just walk away when insects attack them. All leaves manufacture and can also change the chemicals in their leaf cells to make them more volatile, and nasty tasting and even toxic to chomping insects. Plants also send out chemical messages into the air to attract specific predatory insects to eat the herbivores that are munching on their leaves. The unique leaf chemistry of each plant develops over evolutionary time. All plants in an ecosystem use this defense system to deal specifically with the insects they have evolved with. Perhaps, the most well know example of leaf chemistry is the relationship of butterflies to hosts plants. The monarch caterpillar, over a significantly long period of time, has developed a resistance to the chemicals of the milkweed family, so that its caterpillar can eat the leaf of this specific plant without harm to itself. In fact, each species of butterfly has evolved to be able to eat only a specific family of green plants. Within an ecosystem or habitat, some plants will be eaten by some insects and other plants by other insects. However, because of the uniqueness of their individual defense system, leaf chemistry, no species of plant will be eaten by all the native insects of the habitat it has evolved in. This long evolutionary process of co-evolvement of native plants with all the aspects of an ecosystem, brings us several gardening advantages. Here are some of the main benefits of planting native plants in our gardens:
1. We save water - Once established, native plants need minimal irrigation beyond the normal rainfall of the ecosystem they have evolved in. 2. Low maintenance - Native plants need little or no maintenance because they have already adapted to the local environment over geological time. Besides less watering they need no fertilizer, (they have evolved to interact with the microorganisms and the pH level of their soil). As a bonus, you spend more time admiring your landscape and less time working in it! 3. Pesticide freedom – Native plants have developed their own defenses (leaf chemistry) against many of the specific insects and diseases of their habitat. According to most studies, a full 95% of insects that live in our gardens are beneficial to their environment. Since most pesticides kill indiscriminately, beneficial insects become secondary targets in the fight to eliminate pest insects. Eliminating pesticides lets Mother Nature’s natural pest control and checks and balances take over. It also keeps garden toxins out of the soil and water of our watersheds. We need as many insects as possible in our gardens to feed our native birds and animals. Bottom line, we should be gardening for insects! The greater variety of native plants = the greater variety of native insects = the greater variety of native birds and other animals. 4. Wildlife attraction – Native plants, birds, butterflies, bees, pollinators, insects and animals have co-evolved together to interconnect. Research shows that native wildlife prefer native plants for food and shelter. 5. Our gardens can duplicate natural habitats - According to Tallamy, only 5% of our original wild lands are still pristine and functioning in the United States. Our gardens can duplicate these critical natural habitats and serve as connectors and bridges to these wildlands. In the past people chose to garden because: it was an enjoyable hobby; they love nature as a whole; they experience enjoyment and satisfaction by creating something beautiful; it increased the aesthetic and hence economic value of their property; they enjoyed collecting rare or unusual species of plants; they loved the exercise and fresh air or they enjoyed watching things grow. For me and many others, gardening has taken on a role that goes beyond the needs of the gardener. By using native plants in our gardens, we go beyond our own needs and are now actively supporting our nation’s wildlife. As Tallamy says, “It is now within the power of the individual gardener to do something that we all dream of doing, MAKE A DIFFERENCE!” I invite you to join me and many others, in using your own property to make the world a better place. Who knows, you might even sleep better at night! Note: I am often asked what are my favorite native plants? If I could plant only one tree it would be the oak (Quercus rubra or Quercus alba). More than 500 different species of caterpillars can eat the leaves of the oak tree. That’s a lot of food for birds to feed their chicks! And then there are the acorns – food for deer, squirrels, chipmunks, wild turkey, crows, rabbits, opossums, blue jays, quail, raccoons and wood ducks - more than 100 U S. vertebrate species eat acorns! My first choice for a bush is the high bush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). The small white flowers bloom early in the spring and provide an early nectar and pollen source for our many species of native bees and pollinators. It is the host plant for the Striped Hairstreak, Spring Azure, Brown Elfin and Henry’s Elfin. The blue fruit is loved by many species of small and large birds including turkeys as well as many mammals including bears, foxes, deer, rabbits, skunks and of course humans. My choice for a perennial is a tie between Goldenrod (Solidago) and New England Asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae). Both provide nectar and pollen at the end of the growing season for countless pollinators and butterflies. They are the indispensable fall food source up and down the Atlantic coast for our migrating insects and birds including the hummingbird and the Monarch Butterfly. The Aster is the host plant for the Pearl Crescent and Checkerspot Butterflies. There are 25 different native Goldenrod species in Massachusetts. They are the hosts plants to over 115 species of butterflies and moths – more than any other native perennial plant.
2 Comments
Mary Blaquiere
8/6/2021 07:51:35 am
Great blog. As often is the case, you are preaching to the choir. Hopefully the choir will take it to heart and pass it on. I too have become discouraged with the way the general population treats the environment as if it were expendable and there only for us. I really get up set when I see someone purposefully step on an insect.
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Jean pouliot
8/10/2021 12:08:52 pm
Catherine—fascinating to learn how ecosystems settle into balance and how easily that balance is disrupted!
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