Beautiful Native Plants in 2023

On this shortest day of the year, we take time to look back on one of the bright notes - our native plants were quietly at work every single day of 2023 adding beauty and value to the world we live in. They were feeding the pollinators and the birds. Feeding the mammals, the fish, and reptiles, those that eat plants and those that eat the creatures that feed on plants. Giving them all shelter. Giving us food, too, and oxygen to breathe. Removing carbon dioxide from the air, stopping erosion, and improving the soil. Providing sources of medicine and inspiring inventions through biomimicry. They also looked great in our gardens and brought visitors we enjoyed.

Veined Ctenucha moth, Ctenucha venosa,
feeding on native chokecherry, Prunus virginiana

Providing food for insects is perhaps one of the most important things native plants do. E.O. Wilson said: 

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos."

As they co-evolved with the living beings around them, native plants developed specific characteristics that enabled them to thrive. Native bees are important contributors to local ecosystems, pollinating native plants in the exact places and times when they are blooming.

Toothwort - Is That for Dinner?

You may have noticed a certain kind of frenzy that descends on folks in the early spring, a frenzy for wildflowers. And plant people are not the only ones affected, either. People who otherwise never set foot outside of cemented Metro areas make plans to get out of town. The call of bluebells, merrybells, trilliums, and trout lilies is a clarion call that draws whole families to embark on a flower treasure-hunt out in the distant woods and valleys where nature still has the freedom to show her own exuberance for the season.

Ephemerals they are called. These are flowers that emerge and sparkle brightly but briefly, and are gone practically in the blink of an eye. Even their leaves melt away, leaving no trace of their existence by the time the heat of summer arrives. One such ephemeral, native to every state east of the Rocky Mountains, is Cardamine concatenata, aka cut-leaf toothwort. 

Cut-leaf toothwort, Cardamine concatenata

Sounds like something you’d see coming down a dark alley with a grimace and sword, doesn’t it? You would never know from the name that it’s a dainty little thing with bell-shaped blooms, and delicate, deeply serrated leaves.

Native Plant People, It's Up to Us Now

A recent Landscaping with Native Plants conference in Colorado offered a sold-out audience a wide range of topics, but one resounding theme was echoed by every single speaker - it’s up to us now. The need for conservation is critical, the time is now, and we must, all of us, take on the responsibility for thoughtful planting that will slow the loss of species and shore up the functionality of our own local ecosystems. 

Keynote speaker, Scott Hoffman Black, Executive Director of the Xerces Society delivered a powerful talk, ‘Insect Apocalypse? What Is Really Happening; Why it Matters, and How We All Can Help.’ He began by describing the loss of insects worldwide, and emphasized that even if the word ‘apocalypse’ might not yet be applicable, the trends of decline in insect abundance and diversity are distinctly and quantifiably alarming. 

 Native bees like this one are important to maintaining the fabric of the planet.
Insects are undergoing severe declines in abundance and diversity
on every continent except Antartica.

More Love for Native Vines

Vines are popular with gardeners for many reasons; and we have outstanding choices for using NATIVE vines in our landscapes. There is really no need to choose an exotic vine, many of which have invaded our natural areas and caused great harm to them and the animals that would like to live in them. 

Lonicera sempervirens, commonly known as coral
honeysuckle. An easy native vine to grow.
Photo ©BeautifulNativePlants

The same thing gardeners love about vines is also what drives them crazy. Vines climb, creep, crawl, drape and cover; it’s the good news and the bad news. But I’m advocating more love for native vines because they are not only useful in the garden, but ultimately such good providers for wildlife. What’s needed is an understanding of the growth habits of the vines you want to incorporate.

By nature vines are among the more opportunistic of plants. Their roots take hold in the woodland floor and they use tendrils of different kinds to clamber upwards and spread their leaves in the sunshine. This means that a gardener can multiply the flower quotient by utilizing vertical space, or space that might otherwise be devoid of growth. Vines can cover walls, mailboxes, fences, terraces, trellises, arbors, rock piles, and tree stumps. Vines also make excellent groundcovers. Some vines are more opportunistic than others; due diligence is the key to success.

Nature's Best Hope by Doug Tallamy: Book Review

Doug Tallamy's new book:
a wellspring of inspiration

 In his new book, Nature’s Best Hope, Dr. Doug Tallamy has delivered a deep and powerful wellspring of inspiration for the many people craving an opportunity to be part of transformative change for our challenged world. Even more compelling than his first book, Bringing Nature Home, a seminal work in itself, Nature’s Best Hope is a clarion call for the informed appreciation of native plants and the immediate course correction of using them in our own planting spaces to form the connected corridors that will help forestall the loss of species and the loss of ecosystem services that are we currently experiencing. 

Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, is a richly layered work, providing a contextual look at the evolution of our thinking about conservation, as well as detailed guidelines for getting started with native plants in your own nearby spaces, and, perhaps most importantly, the reasoning that will convince you, your neighbors, and your neighborhoods that now is the time to do so. Far from a dry treatise or an impassioned rant, the writing here reflects Tallamy’s character: cautiously optimistic, and gently but perceptively humorous. This book is an enjoyable read both for his fans, and for those who are new to his ideas about the roles native plants play in our landscapes. One of his stated goals was to write a book that would meet the needs of three groups of people: those who like plants, those who like animals, and those who like neither. He has done so.

Feed the Birds!

While there are many discussions on the pros and cons of using bird feeders, you can never go wrong by feeding them with the native plants they depend on in the wild. As we wrestle with the reality of increasing species loss, we can take action in our own yards and community spaces by promoting and using plants native to our region. Yes, changes are occurring, and the ranges of both flora and fauna are moving ever northward. But less is not more - let’s keep as many of the local eco-type plants as we can for as long as we can. And enjoy the benefits of the company of the animals that are still counting on them. 

Taken from a distance, but you can see the juniper cone right in the robin's mouth

Oh, Yucca! A Plant for All Reasons

Oh, Yucca! Do you picture this plant as a pokey, static, and rather dull component of a landscape?Au contraire! We posit the yucca as a plant of majesty, elegance, and fascinating complexity. Not to mention an easy evergreen keeper in the garden. 

Native yuccas have architectural interest after flowering

Ring in the New Year with Bluebells!

The bells are ringing!

A new decade fast approaches, but your optimism is challenged by reports of the Sixth Extinction; what to do? Why not make a New Year’s Resolution to ring in the new by using more native plants in your garden? That’s a win-win resolution - you’ll have fun instead of dreading its fulfillment, and you will be helping sustain all the life in your local ecosystem. Renew your sense of hope with bluebells, a native plant as intriguing as it is beautiful. 

With nearly 40 species native to the U.S. there is likely one you can grow, more on that later. You can’t beat their showy clusters of flowers, each one an exquisite tiny bell, all clustered together on a coil that lengthens into a graceful arch as the plant matures. Buds begin their journey clothed in pink, but four to six hours before each individual flower opens, its color is transformed by changing levels of PH within into robes of blue. Deeper blues appear on plants in more acidic soils. Occasionally a plant will stay pink, and even a few, same species, that are white. 

Viburnum Under Siege. Part Two

Editor’s note: this is part two of this series. Don’t miss part one of Viburnum Under Siege.

The accidentally introduced pest, viburnum leaf beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) or VLB for short, can destroy a shrub in just a couple of years. Unfortunately it continues to spread through North America. So I am trying to learn more about it, hoping that we can protect the viburnums in our area. This is the information that I have gathered from the sites listed and from my own observations. It doesn’t look very encouraging.

VLB larvae and leaf damage

© Beatriz Moisset

The grubs or larvae emerge from eggs early in the spring. They are yellowish or greenish, with black markings and can reach one third or a quarter of an inch in length.

They spend a few weeks feeding on the leaves by making numerous little holes between the veins. These holes are easy to identify. By early or mid June they climb down along the stems and bury themselves in the ground to pupate. When I searched for them in mid June, I found none, only the damage remained.

Viburnum Under Siege

Leaf damage inflicted on arrowwood

by the viburnum leaf beetle

© Beatriz Moisset

 The shoots of Viburnum dentatum are thin, strong and straight. Native Americans used them for arrow shafts. That is why this shrub is often called arrowwood. Until recently it was considered as a plant free from serious pests. Now, the arrowwoods in my area are under attack by an invasive leaf beetle.

Last May (2010), I began noticing leaves full of holes (skeletonized); something that I have never seen before. I finally spotted the culprits, little bugs hiding on the underside of damaged leaves. They look somewhat like caterpillars, but not quite; they are greenish, with black dots. A visit to the Bugguide site helped me identify them and provided links to several university sites full of information (see below). They are the larvae of the viburnum leaf beetle (VLB for short, Pyrrhalta viburni), an introduced pest from The Old World. Both the larvae and adults of this beetle feed exclusively on a variety of species of viburnum.

Viburnum leaf beetle larva and leaf damage

© Beatriz Moisset

Winter Food for Birds

Field of Canada goldenrod. © Beatriz Moisset

 When the days get shorter and other signs of winter hang in the air, most birds pack their bags and leave for warmer climates. They are not necessarily running away from the cold weather, but from the lack of their favorite food, insects.

Not all leave; the ones that can make it through the winter on nuts and berries stay. Also those who know where to find insects stay. Woodpeckers belong to this latter category. Some, such as hawks and owls, who feed on other birds, mice and other small creatures, also stay.

Biocontrols. Fighting Fire with Fire

Mile-a-minute choking trees
© Beatriz Moisset

 What to do when an introduced species, be it a plant or insect, gets so out of control that eradication seems impossible? This is a serious consideration. We see it happens again and again. Many species are so entrenched that all efforts seem futile, from the most ecologically benign, such as physically removing the offenders, to the least desirable ones, the use of pesticides.

Part of the reason why some introduced organisms become invasive is that they left behind the enemies that kept them in check in their native lands. Once free from such restraints they can become enormously successful in their adoptive land. When other methods of control fail conservationists have been resorting to what I would call fighting fire with fire: bringing another introduced species to control the one that has become a pest. These are the so called biological controls or biocontrols. This method is a partial admission of defeat. It allows the invasive species to remain but minimizes its impact. The National Wildlife Federation says it best:

In vast natural areas such as the Everglades, where spraying, snipping or bulldozing exotic weeds is out of the question, a well-tested, well-behaved bug is the conservationist’s best weed whacker.

Pollinator-Friendly Lawns

Lawn and more lawn. © Catherine Zimmerman

Ordinarily a lawn is a desert, unwelcoming to wildlife from tiny insects to birds. The total surface of lawns in the United States has been estimated with the help of satellite technology as somewhere between 40,000 and 75,000 square miles, somewhere between the size of New York State and that of Texas. Some gardeners have started replacing large sections of grass ground cover with garden plants or meadow grasses in an effort to create beneficial habitat for wildlife. Many articles in “Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens” discuss the advantages of reducing the size of lawns and provide abundant suggestions on how to do it (see references below).

Native Gardeners Never Give Up!

I wasn’t going to. I really wasn’t going to. We’d left five acres full of native plants and a treasure trove of garden tools for a “lock and roll” townhouse with a postage stamp of an outside. I was getting my gardening highs by volunteering at public parks and schools.  And I held out valiantly for about 18 months. But at the beginning of that merry, merry month of May, the water broke over the dam of pent-up desire, and I did it. I just had to have my own garden. I blame two inciting causes: dull grey blocks, and pollinators.

In the townhouse development, where were all the bees and butterflies supposed to go?

Mother Nature’s Mysteries

No matter how much we study ecosystems and think we know the answers for which plants will grow where and under which circumstances, there are many instances when there is no obvious answer—they are Mother Nature's mysteries.

Most of The Ravines Conservation Area looks like this: dry soil with longleaf pines, oaks, and low ground cover. It’s managed with regular, prescribed burns.

The magic of the mistletoes

A mistletoe is green all year, even when the
host tree is dormant. This one was living on a 
red maple (Acer rubrum).

Mistletoe played an important role during ancient times in the Old World when people brought evergreens inside so the gods of spring would have safe haven for the winter; and they celebrated the beginning of the return of the sun with various festivals. The European mistletoe (Viscum album) played and important role in these pagan rituals.

You can understand how the ancients must have been mystified by mistletoe. It stays green while the host tree apparently dies over the winter. It never touches the ground, so it must be purer somehow. Some thought that it must be a plant graft from the gods.  See my article, Myths of mistletoe to learn about some of these legends.

It is the synthesis of various legends that led to the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe for good luck, fertility, and/or long marriage. While mistletoe has been used for medicinal purposes over the centuries, both the leaves and berries are toxic to both humans and pets.  Unlike poinsettia, that New World Christmas plant, which despite its reputation, is not poisonous. See my article, Poinsettias are NOT poisonous.

When native plants die…

As readers and writers of this blog, we know that we should plant as many natives as possible for many reasons. Some important reasons are: to reduce the need for extra irrigation, to better support native wildlife, and to create landscapes that are authentic for our regions. But this is not the end of the story…

Native plant nurseries do their best to present beautiful natives to attract buyers. Thanks to Renee Stambaugh for her attractive garden fest display.

Within one year, many of these lovely native plants will be dead!

Ferns in the landscape

Ferns create a soft edge between a wooded area and a lawn. Here you see a mixture of netted chain ferns and cinnamon ferns along with magnolia, St. Johnswort, sweet gum, and more.

Ferns are Living Fossils

Ferns belong to the Pteridophyta Division of the plant kingdom in that they have leaves, roots and stems, but since they spread by spores, ferns do not have flowers, pollen, fruits, or seeds. Today's ferns descended from ancient plants that covered the earth long before the seed plants (the gymnosperms and angiosperms) made their appearance.

Plan ahead!

Plants don’t a have a choice–they
must do the best they can where they are.

Sometimes Mother Nature doesn’t leave enough growing space for her trees and shrubs. Once the plants start growing out in the wild they have to do the best they can with the space they have.
The trio of trees in this top photo, a cherry (Prunus serotina) and two longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) have a problem. The cherry’s major surface roots have a stranglehold around both of the pines and eventually the pines will become weakened at their bases as they try to expand and the cherry tree’s roots expand as well. Right now the cherry tree trunk is about a foot in diameter, but it and the pines will continue to grow. The pines will become a hazard in this suburban yard and are likely to blow over in a tropical storm. It’s possible that all three of them will come down together during a wind event. (Update: several years later, the cherry died.)

Florida’s roadside meadow program

A Florida roadside meadow on 5/1/14 really “pops” and the adjacent farm is planted with wildflowers, too.

I took the long way home from a meeting with my editor at University Press of Florida in Gainesville and Marjorie Shropshire, my illustrator, last year. Marjorie and I stopped to photograph this amazing meadow in Putnam County. (Located in the south central section of district 2 as shown in the map below.)