DRUNK PEOPLE SUCK

"I'm a lot more drunk than I think I am." 

These insightful words were courtesy of a distinguished young lady outside the garden center where I take my lunch breaks. I wish I could say it was later in the day, but this was a little before noon and and she had just purchased [more] alcohol and was sidewalk drinking with a friend. Thanks to upstanding young people like this woman, along with the booze soaked culture of the many lofty academic institutions that litter the area, the garden center that is my daily treat to myself (Pemberton Farms) will be losing 90% of their real estate to... I'm sure you might be able to guess at this point... alcohol sales. So to all you wonderful speech slurring, vomit covered, barely able to walk students and Cambridge hipsters out there, I'd like to say F#######@K you. Thanks for taking away one of the few pleasures I have during my work day. 

Anyway getting back to the plant portion of this rant, while I would like to put all the blame squarely on the drunken populus, the reality is I have to accept some too. As a self-proclaimed plant geek, I should have done my horticultural duty (aka a lot less lunch strolling and bit more actual buying of plants). It is my failure to do so that has contributed to this sad state of affairs. After all, the main reason the plant section is being reduced is they simply aren't selling enough product. My point being when we, as discriminating plant dorks, find businesses we like, we need to make an effort to support them cause as soon as you take them for granted, poof! they're gone.

I've admired way too many great businesses from afar (Seneca Hill Perennials, Shooting Star Nursery, Munchkin Nursery, etc.) only to find they've closed when I finally go to purchase something. Ultimately the people who own and operate these businesses do it cause they love it, but unfortunately love doesn't pay the bills. Do your part to make sure they can keep selling the amazing plants we love and buy some stuff already!!!

So before my little refuge is reduced to a few tables of sad 6 pack petunias and marigolds I thought I'd take a break from highlighting plants and celebrate a few retail mail order businesses I've come across in the last few years that have really blown me away, whether it be breadth and variety, quality of plant, or just plain old good service. CHECK THESE PLACES OUT!!!!

1.) PRAIRIE MOON NURSERY

2.) PRAIRIE NURSERY

3.) MORNING SKY GREENERY

4.) SPECIALTY PERENNIALS (aka hardyplants.com)

5.) ENCHANTER'S GARDEN

6.) TOADSHADE WILDFLOWER FARM

7.) SUNLIGHT GARDENS

8.) NICHE GARDENS

9.) LAZY S'S FARM

10.) PLANT DELIGHTS

11.) FOREST FARM

12.) SPECIAL PLANTS NURSERY

13.) PLANT WORLD SEEDS

DIVERSITY!!! (OR DIE TRYING)

So I was talking design with a biologist friend of mine a few weeks back and and he said something along the lines of "it's funny, you guys think you can one up nature." The comment took me a back a bit, and rather than trying to defend or explain, I took the easy way out and did my best to change the subject. While I may have superficially seemed to brushed it off, it actually hit quite a nerve. So I chewed his comment over a bit after, and then sat with it for a while (and "for a while" I mean a few weeks) and formulated my thoughts. But just to clarify, before I get carried away, I definitely DO NOT think that designers can "one up nature." Should we aspire to? Yes. Has anyone done it? Not that I'm aware of. Not even close. Landscape architecture/design, at its best, mitigates human disturbance and, when possible, adds value back to the landscape through active intervention. To say that we could ever replace nature is beyond naive.

While I'd like to use some of my recent professional work to help demonstrate the "added value" part, I'm afraid that would only help prove the contrary, so in an attempt to not go in a totally negative direction I figured I'd use my own personal garden (in progress) to help illustrate a few points. Before I got started the area was more or less 1/4 natives, 1/4 escaped lawn grasses, 1/4 phragmites, 1/4 glossy buckthorn, and a few patches of poison ivy sprinkled in for good measure (technically poison ivy would be part of the native group, but I think it deserves to be in a class all by itself). If I had let things take their "natural" course the natives probably would have been out competed within a couple of years and it would have been mostly a "monoculture" (or bi-culture?) of these 2 species. So I did my best to turn the tide. I drew a line in the sand (or in this case very wet heavy clay) and went about eradicating the offending species. After knocking the phragmites and buckthorn back some, I then added a few additional regional natives, and preserved and propogated those that were already present.


PHRAGMITES LOOMING IN THE BACKGROUND...

The question is, if you assume existing conditions as a baseline, with all my effort have I really changed anything for the better? Despite the bad rap, both of the invasives I worked so diligently to remove from the area actually do provide valuable ecological functions. Phragmites sequesters nutrients, heavy metals and carbon, builds and stabilizes soils, and persist in places where most plants wouldn't stand a chance, while the glossy buckthorn serves as forage for pollinators, birds, and small mammals. So, at least from an ecological services standpoint I probably haven't moved the needle much, I might have even affected things negatively (hopefully that will change as the plants get established and spread over time). So what value, if any, have I added? Answer: Diversity. If I hadn't intervened it is probably conservative to say that at least 80-90% of the existing natives would have been lost. This is where I see design professionals having the biggest potential to "add value." We may not be able to fully replicate the ecological services of the species we're displacing, but we can provide stand-in plant communities that would otherwise be displaced by introduced invaders... ecological zoos if you will.

When we talk about "value", we need to look at things holistically, in context, otherwise we can over-emphasize the importance of certain aspects, while underestimating others. And relative to context, if we begin to look at the ways people negatively affect the environment around them (encroachment, fragmentation, and degradation) any intervention that keeps at least 2 of these factors constant, while improving at least one is more than worthwhile. So this week, to celebrate diversity, I'm picking three obscure (at least to those who call the northeast home) native-ish plants that you most likely haven't heard of (or at least probably aren't very familiar with). So if any of these happen to be endemic to where you live please give them a try!!!

*DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NO PERSONAL EXPERIENCE GROWING THESE PLANTS IN THE LANDSCAPE, SO DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE PURCHASING!!!


Synandra hispidula - Guyandotte Beauty
Zones 5-8
One of our spring woodland ephemeral biennials of the appalachains. Self-seeds when happy. Wants a rich, woodsy, evenly moist soil. I'm assuming a closely allied relative of the european woodland wildflower, Melittis melissophyllum aka Bastard Balm.
Purchase from: Enchanters Garden, Izel Native Plants


Thalia dealbata - Powdery Alligator-Flag, Water Canna, or Powdery Thalia
Zones 6(5)-10
A tall (6'-10') semi-aquatic, decidedly tropical looking, very architectural plant. You got a sunny spot with some shallow water and wanna impress you dorky gardening friends?...give Powdery Alligator-Flag a try! There's another less hardy species (to zone 7) Thalia geniculata or Red Stemmed Thalia/ Bent Alligator-Flag.
Purchase from: Niche Gardens, Missouri Wildflower Nursery, Secret Garden Growers, Maryland Aquatic Nursery


Zenobia pulverulenta - Dusty Zenobia
Zones 5-9
If the literature on this is correct, I don't understand why this southern (yet cold hardy) ericaceous shrub isn't more widely grown. Evergreen (or mostly evergreen). Beautiful fall foliage. Tolerance of wet, poorly drained soils. White, bell-shaped, fragrant flowers. I'll find some room for this plant if it kills me. Many selections of forms with silvery blue foliage including 'Woodlanders Blue,' 'Misty Blue,' and 'Blue Sky.'
Purchase from: Rarefind Nursery, American Beauties, Almost Eden, Bluebell Nursery, Broken Arrow Nursery, Nearly Native Nursery, Forest Farm, Panoramic Farm

IMAGES SOURCES: S. HISPIDULA (RIGHT, LEFT); T. DEALBATA (RIGHT, LEFT); Z. PULVERULENTA (RIGHT, LEFT)

PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, & PRAGMATISM

I've learned over the years there are certain necessary qualities a gardener must have in order to be successful. Patience (not at all), persistence (absolutely) and pragmatism (absolutely not). While in some circles 1 out of 3 ain't bad, in this instance my lack of the majority of these essential attributes has caused pain, heartbreak, wasted money, and most importantly wasted time.

Given my continuing struggle to at least have some fleeting glimmer of the 2 qualities I lack, I feel I can credibly say that I can relate to the average home gardener's need for immediacy. I've been there, done that, and paid the price. So, given that I'm leaning on the side of brevity as of late as I am spending most (ok, pretty much all) of my free time in the garden these days I'm just going to dive right into the plants... Only three this week! (again with the brevity) My selections this week were strategic relative to the lessons they taught me.

PATIENCE

Dictamnus albus - Gas Plant
Zones 3-8
There's a good reason why this resolute, tough as nails, long lived (non-native) perennial beauty isn't as popular as it ought to be... well make that 2 very not good reasons: 1. It pretty much always looks sad and pathetic in pot and 2. It takes at least a couple years to settle in before it really begins to put on a show. And if you were wondering about the name take a look (apparently this doesn't actually harm the plant, so they say...).
Purchase from:

PERSISTENCE

Sporobolus heterolepis - Prairie Dropseed
Zones 3-9
For several years I debated ripping out this grass due to its overall underwhelmingness, but I managed to restrain myself. I weeded diligently, despite the fact that I wasn't sure it was worth it, but did my best to give the plants the time they needed to come into their own. And so glad they (and I) did! This ones definitely a keeper :)
Purchase from:

PRAGMATISM

Sisyrinchium angustifolium - Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass
Zones 4-9
This plant conjures up overwhelming feelings of guilt. For years I have dutifully collected the seedlings that popped up here and there around the property where I garden and transplanted them to (what I thought) was a much more amiable spot, but year after year I would come to find them gone without a trace the following spring. In their "natural environment" they often grow in the company of grasses which I imagine makes the tiny rhizome they grow from fairly difficult to access, but when grown on open soil not so much. I've concluded the rhizome must taste like candy to whatever kept eating it, given the size of the plant you wouldn't expect it to be worth the trouble. So now I leave the plants where I find them, and just appreciate them as is.
Purchase from:

DISCLAIMER: THIS ENTRY WAS WRITTEN HASTILY A FEW HOURS BEFORE MIDNIGHT AFTER A SOLID 4 DAYS OF STRAIGHT GARDENING.... NEEDLESS TO SAY THIS WAS NOT MY BEST ENTRY. :( BACK TO NORMAL NEXT MONTH! :)