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Re: Native, non-native and nearly native



One of these days, Will is going to tell us to start up a carolinaplants
list...

You can argue yourself silly over this topic.  I think most nurseries list
as "natives" anything native to the US and Canada - for instance, Salvia
greggii is usually listed as a native, even though it is certainly not
native outside the SW (maybe even only in TX/NM, I'm not sure).  Ditto for
Switchgrass and a host of other plants.  You really have to make your own
decision on this.  Do you want your garden to be a "NC natives only" garden?
Great.  Do you want it to be a "Eastern US natives only" garden?  Great.
It's really like deciding on listing criteria - everyone's got their own,
and noone's criteria are really any "better" than anyone else's.  I grow
things like various Salvias, Switchgrass, Bandanna of the Everglades, etc.,
which are listed as "natives," although they may never have been parts of
any native NC ecosystem, and I don't feel any great guilt in putting them
into the "native" areas of my garden.  I mean, how far do you want to go?
Native to the Piedmont?  To your county?  Dig up those Southern Magnolias,
get rid of the Chalkbark Maples, etc.?

It's also worthwhile to keep in mind that plants can be invasive even though
they're listed by a nursery as "native."  I'd consider this at least equally
important as a selection criterion, personally.

In sum, decide what you want your garden to be, and choose accordingly.  If
you want to have a garden which you feel reflects ecosystems truly native to
NC, maybe even to this region, then you need to do some research and be
fairly selective.  If you want to allow a wider range of plants...great.

All IMHO, of course,

-Sandy

-- 
Sandy Cash
Durham, NC

"The time for change is here and here we are, we're just for you!" -
Funkadelic
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shantanu Phukan" <phukan@email.unc.edu>
To: "Carolina Birds" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 9:49 PM
Subject: Native, non-native and nearly native


> We have at various points had threads on carolinabirds about the
> desirability of planting native species to help out our native birds. The
> arguments in favor of native plantings have made enough sense to me that
> in relandscaping my yard to get rid of lawn I have generally leaned
> towards native plants; however, the definition or parameters of 'native'
> are sometimes a little fuzzy to me. What would be the consensus on a plant
> that is native to temperate estern North America but not to this region? I
> was at the nursery today and was attracted to the Prairie Switchgrass
> (Panicum Virgatum) but upon looking it up in the plant encyclopedia found
> that it is native to the midwestern prairies. Is this close enough to us
> or is it the case that by 'native' we mean only those plants that are
> specific to our immediate vicinity? And any thoughts specifically on
> Switchgrass?
>
> Shantanu Phukan
>
> *****************************************************
> SHANTANU PHUKAN
> Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
> University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
> Curriculum in Asian Studies
> Alumni Hall 413C
> Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599
>
> phukan@email.unc.edu
> 919-962-6825
> *****************************************************
>