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Home , Iris (plant), Iris lacustris, Trillium nivale

WINTER 2015, VOLUME 16, ISSUE 1

A PUBLICATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE SOCIETY

Native Plant to Know Snow Trillium nivale by Stephen Johnson and Mary Stark undocumented in Canada. The plant also grows on lime-rich Throughout its range it occurs bluffs along river flood plains. Other Midwestern native plant aficionados infrequently. In , it is a botanists have found populations in are particularly lucky to have one of state threatened ; in , more typical forest settings such as the earliest flowering wildflowers in it is a species of special concern. In beneath eastern hemlock (Tsuga their midst, opening its “when , it was once considered canadensis). We located a population March is scarcely here.” The snow extinct but relocated by Fred Case in of 25 to 30 individuals in an trillium (Trillium nivale), also known 1982 and now given threatened status. oak–hickory forest in a county park in as dwarf white trillium, is diminutive The late Frederick W. Case, Jr., the southeast , south of the range compared to other members of the most notable authority on the indicated by Case. Perhaps this genus. For such a small plant, it has Trillium, said the species occupies raw represents another disjunct STEPHEN JOHNSON relatively large flowers that even shade base rich upland soil or even limestone population. We saw a few the . of some populations gravel where it is intolerant of young plants in this colony

may possess far more flamboyant competing ground vegetation indicating that the ILLUSTRATION BY flowers appearing as miniature and even mold covering it. population is at least doppelgangers of the better known growing, albeit rather white trillium slowly. Unlike the conditions (T. grandiflorum). indicated by Case, these plants Snow trillium occurs emerge from a variably dense in broad but scattered cover of leaf mold. population clusters In some parts of its range, snow referred to as disjunct trillium may begin flowering in populations, occurring mid to late and continue primarily in a broad throughout March. In Iowa we have arc from mid-Iowa not found it in before late south through March. As such an early and . Some , it likely misses sporadic colonies occur the pollinators and so it comes as far west as eastern as little surprise that T. nivale and in is self-compatible. Some eastern Pennsylvania. A researchers report that it is single colony overlooks the visited by honeybees but we Potomac River in western have not witnessed this. We . Trillium nivale ranges have occasionally seen the north to southern Minnesota flowers visited by small flies and Michigan but is Continued on page 15 The Blazing Star is... Editorial

The Blazing Star is published quarterly (April, August, November, February) by the North American Native Plant Society Happy New Year, NANPS members! We are off to a good start welcoming two new (NANPS). Contact [email protected] honorary directors, Margaret Atwood and Douglas Tallamy, and three new board for editorial deadlines and for advertising members, Bill Ford, Myles Mackenzie and me, Alison Howson. rates. The views expressed herein are Margaret Atwood is known to us all. She has written more than 40 volumes of those of the authors and not necessarily poetry, children’s literature, fiction and non-fiction. She is an unflinching advocate those of NANPS. for environmental issues and joint honorary president of the Rare Bird Society The North American Native Plant Society within BirdLife International. The Governor General Award-winning author was is dedicated to the study, conservation, made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1981. cultivation and restoration of North Dr. Douglas Tallamy is a professor and chair of the Department of Entomology America’s native flora. and Wildlife Ecology at the University of . His landmark publication Winter 2015 Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants (Timber Volume 16, Issue 1 Press, 2007) encourages us to think of our gardens as wildlife preserves and habitat ISSN 2291-8280 for local diversity. Dr. Bill Ford is an educational psychologist and director of a multi-disciplinary Editor: Irene Fedun centre providing diagnosis, assessment and intervention services to individuals with Production: Bea Paterson learning differences. Bill and his wife Louise won the NANPS Conservation Award Proofreader: Eileen Atkinson in 2013 for extensive wetland restoration on their farm near Creemore, . Printed by: Guild Printing, Markham, Ontario Myles Mackenzie works for PMA Landscape Architects as project manager and lead planting specialist. His work is centered on creating sustainable environments © North American Native Plant Society that are defined by their Images © the photographers and function, ecological illustrators, text © the authors. integrity and lasting All rights reserved. beauty. He is an avid native North American Native Plant Society, plant gardener and a formerly Canadian Wildflower Society, passionate advocate for the is a registered charitable society, no. creative use of native 130720824 RR0001. plants in everyday urban Donations to the society are tax- settings. creditable in Canada. I am an ecologist and NANPS Membership: species at risk specialist at CAN$25/YEAR WITHIN CANADA, the Ontario Land Trust US$25/YEAR OUTSIDE CANADA Alliance. My work includes

Join online or send cheque or money delivering technical ALICE KONG order to North American Native Plant training and support to Society, Box 84, Stn D, Toronto, ON local land trusts in HOTOGRAPH BY M9A 4X1. monitoring and managing P Telephone: (416) 631-4438. sites for Species at Risk. NANPS award winner Paul Foster in his native plant garden. E-mail: [email protected]. Now we have to say Web: www.nanps.org. goodbye to outgoing board members Bronwen Fitzsimmons, Mukib Khan, Gillian Board of Directors: Leitch, LeeAnne MacGregor and Cass Stabler. Organizations such as NANPS could Honorary President: James A. French not operate without the help of dedicated volunteers. Thank you for your service. Executive Director: Peter Kelly Congratulations go to winners of the NANPS awards handed out at our Vice-President: Adam Mohamed November AGM. The Red Mountain Campus of Mesa Community College in Secretary: Miriam Henriques Mesa, was awarded the Founders Conservation Award for their efforts to Treasurer: Janice Keil restore and maintain native plant populations on their grounds. Angelique-Marie Bill Ford Mori of Hamilton, Ontario, Alan Bell and Paul Foster, both of Toronto, Ontario Alison Howson each received a NANPS Garden Award for their inspiring efforts to create native Alice Kong plant habitat in urban settings. Volunteer of the Year Awards went to Rolf Struthers Myles Mackenzie and Vivienne Denton. Rolf has done an outstanding job updating and maintaining Howard Meadd Harold Smith our membership records. Vivienne has been a long-time supporter of our exchange.

Alison Howson NANPS board member

2 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 NANPS EVENTS

FEBRUARY 17 Barbara Fallis Memorial 2015 FLOWERS AND FOOD: Speakers : Using Native Plants Growing Edible Native Plants in Constructed Wetlands and Alternative Wastewater Treatment Technology NANPS is proud to present noted author and University of Toronto environmentalist Lorraine Johnson speaking at the North York Central Library on Monday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. on FEBRUARY 21 Get the Jump on Spring the subject of growing edible native plants. Lorraine, a Toronto former president of NANPS and contributor to The Blazing MARCH 13-17 Canada Blooms Star, has written 10 books, most recently City Farmer: Direct Energy Centre, Toronto Adventures in Urban Food Growing. This illustrated talk is MARCH 14 Seedy Saturday the first of two NANPS Speakers Series presentations that Scadding Court, Toronto will be videotaped and made available online thanks to generous funding from The McLean Foundation. See MARCH 19 Speakers Series: Reviving Rare accompanying brochure or visit www.nanps.org for more Plants at The Riverwood Conservancy information. Toronto Botanical Garden MARCH 22 Seedy Saturday Evergreen Brickworks, Toronto MARCH 28 Scarborough Seedy Saturday & Green Fair April 25, 2015 - 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. MARCH 30 Speakers Series: Flowers & Workshop instructor: Dan Bissonnette, program Food: Growing Edible Native Plants coordinator for the Naturalized Habitat Network Location: The Big Carrot, 348 Danforth Ave., Details on page 2 Room 212, Toronto APRIL 18 Go Wild - Grow Wild 2015 Expo The Healing Gardens Project is a London, Ontario special initiative of the APRIL 25 The Healing Gardens Workshop Naturalized Habitat Network see below for details dedicated to education and support for the establishment of MAY 9 NANPS Annual Native Plant Sale healing-themed gardens, Markham Civic Centre, Markham, Ontario including memorial, peace and See accompanying brochures for details or visit www.nanps.org meditation gardens and other sacred spaces which contribute to physical, mental and spiritual well-being. This workshop has been VOLUNTEERS ALWAYS WELCOME developed through an eclectic curriculum which No experience necessary. Please contact us at includes Japanese and European landscaping [email protected] or call 416-631-4438 and techniques, First Nations healing traditions and modern therapeutic landscape practices, along with leave a message. information on regionally native plants. Discussion will include the review and selection of suitable native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers. NANPS AWARD NOMINATIONS This one-day event is open to anyone with basic skills. In addition to gardeners and native The NANPS Conservation Award recognizes the plant enthusiasts, these training seminars have extraordinary contribution of an individual or group to the proven useful for those interested in creating sacred conservation, protection or restoration of the natural spaces for yoga and tai chi, memorials, prayer and heritage/native flora of North America at the community, meditation, or anyone on a personal healing regional, provincial, national or continental level. Deadline journey. for submissions is May 31st. Refreshments and handouts included. Please bring NANPS Garden Awards recognize and celebrate the your own mug. amazing gardens that support diverse habitat and shared Register online at accommodations for our native flora and fauna. The http://eventbrite.ca/event/15190061 or mail the NANPS Volunteer Award is given to a volunteer who makes enclosed form to NANPS, P.O. Box 84, Station D, an outstanding contribution to the fulfilment of NANPS Toronto, Ontario M9A 4X1. NANPS members: $50 goals. Deadline for submissions for these awards is July 31st. General public: $60. For more information email Visit www.nanps.org for more information. [email protected]. Advance registration required.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 3 NANPS Supports Youth Summit Participant In Memoriam: GRIFFITHS LAURENCE Mariel Lepra is one busy young woman. An avid naturalist, CUNNINGHAM she attended the Ontario Nature Youth Summit for the first 1930-2014 time in the fall of 2013 and promptly decided to join the Ontario Nature Youth Council. At a retreat in February the Grif Cunningham led a fascinating life that took him following year, the Youth Council tossed around ideas for a from the family farm in St. Catharines, Ontario to youth campaign and settled on the plight of the pollinators, geography studies at the University of Toronto to especially the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in the London, where he taught historical geography agricultural community and the industry. The at University College and eventually to Tanzania where, group designed postcards and delivered a petition to accompanied by his family, he taught about cooperatives Queen’s Park, the Ontario legislature. and world affairs, and became personal assistant to In 2014, 17-year-old Mariel was fortunate to receive a grant President Julius Nyerere. from the North American Native Plant Society to attend last In 1970, he returned to Toronto to accept a teaching fall’s Youth Summit in Orillia, Ontario, with 90 other young post at York University. A dedicated teacher, he was people from 45 deeply involved in the social, political and communities. administrative life of the university. Mariel ran a His interests were many and varied including a deep workshop love of nature. Jane Jacobs, the American-Canadian encouraging author and activist best known for her influence on participants to urban studies, was a close neighbor of Grif’s and he Take the helped tend her garden. Pollinator Grif served on the NANPS land management Pledge and committee for many years, helping to steward their two designed and properties, Shining Tree Woods and Zinkan Island Cove. created He also served as president of NANPS for one year and Ontario’s is remembered, among other things, for running Pollinator Pals efficient meetings! NANPS co-founder and past- poster. president Tom Atkinson recalls, “Grif used to drive a Thanks to a cube truck to pick up plants for the annual plant sale grant from and I went with him for two years. Despite his eccentric Mountain charm, he drove well. We fitted the back of the truck Equipment Co- with what we laughingly called shelves. I am sure Grif op, the Youth must have scoured his Annex neighbourhood for the Council is now crates and boards we used, but they worked well. We lost preparing two no plants in those forays. videos. One “Grif may have appeared abrupt,” says Tom, “but it illustrates the was only because he had a point of view, was ready to value of native defend it, and did so in plain terms. Once you got on to plants for him, he was a pussycat.” pollinators. The A progressive scholar, educator, native plant other focuses on enthusiast, government advisor, citizen and farmer who the work and believed we could achieve anything if we worked co- achievements of ALUS (Alternative Land Use Services), a operatively, Grif is sorely missed by the native plant community-developed, farmer-delivered program that community and all who knew and admired him. provides support to farmers and ranchers to enhance and maintain nature’s benefits. Among other things, ALUS teaches farmers to plant native gardens or shelterbelts beside EDITOR’S CORRECTION their fields to provide food and nesting sites for pollinators who will, in turn, help pollinate their crops. The photograph of Spiranthes romanzoffiana on page 15 Congratulations to Mariel and the Ontario Nature Youth of the fall 2014 issue of The Blazing Star was incorrectly Council for their important accomplishments on behalf of attributed. The photograph was taken on Manitoulin nature and pollinators. Island by Zile Zichmanis.

4 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 The Ancient Cliff-face Cedars of Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment

by Peter Kelly without the defining attribute of great Most of us can envision the towering height. They challenge redwoods and sequoias of our assumptions of either from personal recollection or what an old tree looks from the pages of National Geographic. like. Indeed, bristlecone Trees so wide cars drive right through pines (Pinus longaeva) them. Trees so tall their tops disappear are the oldest trees on into the canopy above. One thing is earth yet they grow very certain – these trees are very old. We slowly, appearing could pick out the oldest trees from a stunted and almost lineup simply by choosing the biggest sickly as they cling to and the tallest of the lot. Or could we? the slopes of While many of the planet’s tallest California’s White trees are among its oldest, there are Mountains. Other species that reach western North remarkable American species like ages western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) and southern foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana subsp. austrina) have individuals that are over 1,000 years old but

whose entire bodies PETER KELLY could HOTOGRAPH BY P

Raccoons ascend a 500-year-old white cedar on their way to their cliff-face den.

fit into your living their way across Southern Ontario. room. Most of This escarpment formed 300-400 the oldest million years ago as large amounts of individuals of sediment and dead invertebrate these species organisms accumulated at the bottom grow at of an inland sea that covered the altitude and interior of the North American along the rocky continent. The escarpment was slopes of mountain exposed as the softer surrounding rock ranges in the eroded away. The present escarpment Western Cordillera. emerged from beneath the Eastern North Wisconsinan Ice Sheet almost 13,000 America, in years ago. contrast, is largely The Niagara Escarpment’s cliff-face lacking in trees of a old-growth forest is comprised of great age. A notable eastern white cedars (Thuja occidentalis). This tree, also referred to PETER KELLY exception is the unusual old-growth forest that as northern white cedar, is common clings to the cliffs of the throughout eastern North America. It was an important resource for First LLUSTRATION BY Niagara Escarpment, a I series of limestone and Nations peoples because of its dolomite cliffs that wend Continued on page 6

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 5 Continued from page 5 ubiquity and its resistance to poles and fence posts and rails. The antiquity in trees of height and width. decomposition. White cedar was used advent of pressure-treated wood and No two cliff cedars over 300 years in in the construction of palisades and chemical wood preservatives has age look alike. Each one is unique, longhouses, and for the skeletons of limited white cedar’s usefulness today, their forms shaped by periodic cedar-strip canoes, a vital but it is still important in horticulture disturbances from rockfall or ice-, transportation mode for the as an ornamental species. Foresters snow- or wind-storms over the course continent’s first peoples. Cedar bark traditionally thought of white cedar as of their lives. The main axes of most and leaves were used for medicinal a relatively short-lived pioneer species of these cedars have long since died teas and poultices. The plant was that reached a maximum age of only and a branch (or branches) has taken thought to cure everything from 400 years. Discoveries of the old- over as its principal leader. Many cedar headaches and rheumatism to skin growth cedars clinging to the ledges trees hang upside-down on the cliff, infections. For this reason, white cedar and cracks of the Niagara Escarpment with the roots far above the living is one of four key medicines in the have radically changed that thinking. branches. Others twist wildly as they Medicine Wheel (along with It is an old-growth forest like no emerge from the cliff and have sweetgrass, sage and tobacco), a First other: hundreds of kilometres in assumed a spiral growth pattern. The oldest cedars taper sharply from base to tip, another sign of advanced age. White cedars have the ideal plumbing system for trees growing on unstable substrates like cliffs or eroding stream banks. Individual root clusters entombed within the rock are connected to individual longitudinal strips of living phloem (tissue that transports organic nutrients within the tree) and xylem (tissue that PETER KELLY transports water within the tree) that feed very specific HOTOGRAPH BY P clusters of branches. White cedars cling to the side of a “flowerpot”, one of several unique geological formations within Canada's When a root cluster Fathom Five National Marine Park. dies, the water and nutrient supply is Nations symbol that teaches a holistic length but with a width of no more cut off from those branches. This leads view of the world from a native than 35 metres (115 feet), the to their death but leaves the remaining perspective. Its historical importance maximum height of the cliffs. It would clusters of living branches unaffected. as a living pharmacy has meant that take weeks for you to walk its length Rather than one “garden hose,” so to even today white cedar is incorporated but only a few seconds to travel its speak, feeding the entire tree, there are into native funeral and purification width – straight down. Since the trees multiple garden hoses that feed ceremonies. grow on vertical cliff faces, the forest individual parts of the tree. If you turn From a forestry perspective, white has no discernible area if mapped one hose off, the others continue to cedar’s seemingly indestructible but using standard means. Their flow and feed very different sectors of lightweight wood was used by early considerable age remained hidden for the tree. In the oldest white cedars, settlers of eastern North America to so long because the cedars lacked the these periodic episodes of root death fashion railway ties, shingles, telegraph commonly accepted characteristics of produce what is known as a strip-bark

6 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 Ten of these experiment, researchers planted the trees are over of cedars and other common 1,000 years in local tree species on artificial cliff faces age. The oldest and followed their progress for several tree, a cedar years. While the seeds of most of these close to seven trees germinated, after three years only metres tall and the cedars survived. The others had growing under literally grown so fast that they had an overhang on pushed themselves off the cliff. the cliff at Lion’s Head Provincial AGING THE CEDARS Nature Reserve How does one determine the age of is 1,327 years in an old cedar (without cutting it down age. It of course)? In forestry, a small hand- germinated in powered device known as an 688 A.D., before increment borer is turned into the tree the Crusades, to extract a specimen of wood (and, the rise of the more importantly, a record of the tree Inca Kingdom in rings preserved in the wood) that is Peru or the approximately four millimetres (.16 invention of inch) wide and the length of the tree’s gunpowder. diameter or radius. It’s like a biopsy When this tree needle for trees. These pencil-shaped began life, samples are glued into grooves on Mohammed, the wooden boards, sanded and counted founder of under a stereomicroscope. Tree-ring Islam, had been counts are confirmed and/or corrected dead for 56 using a technique known as cross- years. Two other dating where individual ring widths PETER KELLY older, but dead, are measured and compared using a cedars have also computer program that identifies been found. patterns of ring growth between trees HOTOGRAPH BY P Both of them are at the same site (such as a of Strip-bark growth is a characteristic of virtually all white cedars over over 1,500 years cliff face or rock outcrop). A similar 300 years in age. Living wood abuts dead white wood that has in age; one is pattern of growth (as expressed as sloughed off its bark. This longitudinal portion of the trunk was estimated to have tree-ring width) will be repeated in hydraulically connected to roots which have subsequently died. died when it was most of the trees at one site. This close to 1,700 pattern reflects the overriding growth pattern (also known as stem- years old. influence that annual climate will have stripping). Quite simply, the oldest What is the secret to old age in these on the entire white cedar forest. cedars have alternating strips of living cedars? How can they survive for so bark and dead wood – where the bark long while growing in virtually no As adults, the cedars continue to has sloughed off and the wood is now soil? Why is it that they can do it but grow slowly because there is little bleached white. The ability to produce no others can? Studies have shown room for root expansion within the strip-bark is essential to the long-term that these cedars don’t need soil rock. The amount of aboveground survival of these trees. Trees without because they get all the nutrients they biomass in a tree (i.e. trunk, branches, this capability living under similar need from waters that percolate down leaves etc.) is directly proportional to circumstances would have perished through the rock and emerge onto the its root mass: in other words, you can’t long before these white cedars because cliff face. Supplying them with added get a big tree from a tiny root system. any amount of root death would affect water or nutrients doesn’t make them Since the cedars grow slowly, they stay the entire tree, not just portions of it. grow markedly faster. Other research relatively small. They may be only a How old are these white cedars? To has shown that when it comes to few metres tall, but hundreds of years date, 124 living cedars over 500 years surviving on a cliff face, slow and old. That is the secret to long life on a in age have been found growing on the steady wins the race. In a simulated cliff faces of the Niagara Escarpment. Continued on page 8

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 7 Continued from page 7

cliff. If you stay small, and stick close to the rock surface, you avoid all the punishing winds and storms that can fell much younger and bigger trees in surrounding habitats. We can’t say that the cedars thrive on the cliffs, but because they are the only trees that can survive at all, they have an entire habitat to themselves. Who says the little guy doesn’t win every once in a while?

Peter Kelly is the executive director of the North American Native Plant Society and co-author with D.W. Larson of The PETER KELLY Last Stand: A Journey through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara HOTOGRAPH BY Escarpment, Natural Heritage Books/The P Dundurn Group, 2007. A section of the Niagara Escarpment known as Old Baldy. The oldest cedar on this cliff face is 775 years in age.

Use of Controversial Pesticides Banned in U.S. National Wildlife Refuges

by Maryann Whitman of wildlife conservation that favors Further, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife management that restores or mimics Service recognized that “transitioning After facing a series of legal challenges natural ecosystem processes.” any refuge land from a primarily from environmental groups around Neonicotinoid pesticides not only agricultural use to restored, native the country, the United States Fish and act as systemic poisons of pollinators, habitat works to achieve the Service Wildlife Service (USFWS) has issued a but widespread contamination by goal of minimizing our carbon memorandum to the effect that by neonicotinoids in soils and in surface footprint as set forth in Rising to the January 2016, it will have phased out waters also poisons creatures like Urgent Challenge, Strategic Plan for the use of neonicotinoid pesticides earthworms and crayfish, thereby Responding to Accelerating Climate and “genetically engineered crop having effects on up the food chain. Change (USFWS 2010).” seeds” on National Wildlife Refuges, The chemical structure of these on over 150 million acres (over 60 pesticides is such that some of them Maryann Whitman is the editor of Wild million hectares). “This conforms to persist in the soil for years. Ones Journal. This article was originally the Service’s Biological Integrity, Genetically modified crops permit published in the Aug/Sept/Oct. 2014 Diversity, and Environmental Health the increasingly widespread use of issue. It is reprinted here with Policy” with respect to the refuges, and powerful and indiscriminant permission. is “based on the underlying principle pesticides on row crops.

Ontario Targets Neonics

On the Health Canada website, the number of pollinator mortality In his annual report last October, Pest Management Regulatory Agency reports mainly from corn-growing Ontario Environment Commissioner notes that it “has determined that regions of Ontario and . … Gord Miller urged the provincial current agricultural practices related Approximately 70% of the affected government to measure the impact of to the use of neonicotinoid treated dead bee samples tested positive for neonicotinoids (aka neonics) on the corn and soybean seed are affecting residues of neonicotinoid insecticides environment but stated that he would the environment due to their impacts used to treat corn seeds while prefer a moratorium on their use. on bees and other pollinators.” It goes neonicotinoids were only detected in Several European countries have on to say, “In the spring and summer unaffected bees in one sample at very banned the use of this neuro-active of 2012, we received a significant low levels.” pesticide widely used by corn and

8 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 soybean farmers in Canada. “This is “healthy ecosystems” while • Developing a “comprehensive” the biggest threat to the structure and maintaining a “productive agricultural action plan for pollinator health ecological integrity of the ecosystem sector” and reversing the decline in Although the Ontario Beekeepers’ that I have encountered in my life… pollinator numbers. Association and environmentalists bigger than DDT,” he said. • 80% reduction in acreage planted have called for an outright ban on the Last November, the Ontario with neonic-treated corn and pesticide, only Health Canada can government responded by limiting the soybean seeds by 2017 issue a ban and so far the Canadian use of neonics. The Ministry of • Limiting the number of honey government has refused to act. , Food and Rural Affairs bees that die during winter by laid out a three-point plan to ensure 15% by 2020

Bee-killing pesticides found in nursery plants

A study published last June by Friends distribution of neonics between the neonic-treated plants. Visit of the Earth (FOE) and allies, entitled flowers and the rest of the plant. Since www.BeeAction.org to read the full Gardeners Beware 2014, found that these pesticides do not break down report and www.FoE.org to join their 51% of garden plant samples quickly, the plants could remain toxic bee-friendly campaign. purchased at garden retailers across to bees and other the United States and Canada pollinators for contained neonics. Some of the many years. flowers had pesticide levels high The conclusion: enough to kill bees. Buy only organic, The study, a follow-up to a pilot preferably native conducted by FOE the previous year, plants and urge expanded the number of samples and your local nursery locations where plants were and garden retailer purchased. It also assessed the to stop purchasing

Original Art by Brigitte Granton

Acrylic, Oil and Ink. CHARLES ISCOVE Commission work by request. HOTOGRAPH BY P visit www.brigittegranton.com on stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida) GrowGrow Wild!Wild! Native plant nursery, landscaping and ecological services GIVING NATIVE PLANTS www.grow-wild.com A PLACE TO GROW Home: 705.799.2619 3784 Hwy 7, (Paul Heydon) Omemee, Ontario Cell: 416.735.7490 www.LongPointLandTrust.ca (by appointment only) [email protected]

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 9 Heaven in a Wild Flower

by Muriel Hart Ontario's , the I had the great good fortune to be white trillium born into a family of nature lovers and (Trillium skilled needlewomen. They generously grandiflorum). shared their interests and skills with When I was me so that I grew to enjoy nature and older, my father, crafts. Sometimes I could enjoy both who loved simultaneously, such as when I was a yellow, would little girl crocheting in the canoe while tell me about my mother, father and brother did all seeing marsh the paddling. My grandmother in marigolds Guelph adored wildflowers and, on (Caltha walks to Riverside Park, she would palustris) on his point out the non-native Queen Bruce Trail hikes Anne's lace (Daucus carota) to me. I with my mother. thought the name sounded romantic Happily, my and it reminded me of the lace she was love for nature teaching me to crochet. My family led me to a NIGEL HART regarded wildflowers as precious Sierra Club hike jewels of nature and I was intrigued on the Niagara HOTOGRAPH BY that I could find them in so many Escarpment in P places: by the roadside, in my mother's 1991 and to my Muriel’s pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) was one of the pesticide-free garden (unusual for future husband pillows auctioned to raise funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer 1960s Toronto), by the sidewalk going Nigel, a fellow Foundation. Others were calypso orchid, twin flower, fringed to school, on Toronto Island, or on the nature lover. polygala and bird's-eye primrose (Primula mistassinica). Bruce Trail, where I remember being Nigel expresses thrilled to see the Province of his fascination with nature with his Wildflowers of Ontario and many other photography. We publications. have taken many When I was a child my mother trips to what I call taught me how to sew, both by hand “botanical paradise,” and on a sewing machine. As an adult formally known as I learned to quilt by hand at a class at the . The Quilter's Palette (now closed), a While I waited for shop in Toronto which was run by two Nigel to take his members of The Etobicoke Quilters' photographs, I Guild. When I learned how to hand wanted to identify appliqué, I realized the creative the wildflowers possibilities and decided to design around me. I some appliqué quilt blocks (or thought it would be squares) of wildflowers. In The wonderful to have a Sounding Line, the newsletter of The botanist along to Friends of the Bruce District Parks help, but needless to Association, I noticed that The say, one did not Tempest, the visitor centre gift shop in NIGEL HART materialize. Not the Bruce Peninsula National Park, surprisingly, since I was hosting a fundraiser for breast am a librarian with cancer research and they were looking HOTOGRAPH BY P the Toronto Public for items to raise funds. How could I This dwarf lake () pillow was among the ones Library, I have contribute? A colourful quilted pillow donated for the fundraising efforts of The Friends of the Bruce started a wildflower of a wildflower, of course. I made a District Parks Association. Others were yellow lady's slipper field guide collection sketch of four pink calypso orchids orchid (Cypripedium parviflorum), ram's head lady's slipper that includes The (Calypso bulbosa), arranged orchid (Cypripedium arietinum) and lakeside daisy (Hymenoxys ROM Field Guide to symmetrically within a square, with herbacea).

10 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 the common name twice around the stitch the border, to be made into a quilt block common and then into a pillow. name of the I start each project by making a flower onto small sketch of a possible design, then the sashing I consult my field guides and (or borders) photographs on the Internet for of the quilt botanical accuracy. I make the fabric block, sew the shapes large enough to be able to sashing to the stitch them to the cream background appliqué fabric. Once I decide how to arrange block and the wildflowers into a design, I make a then hand- full-sized sketch and create templates quilt a design (or pattern pieces) of the parts of the around the flower. I then trace these templates wildflower with a pencil onto cotton fabric. I like and the to use solid-coloured fabric since it stitching on was used in antique appliqué quilts the sashing. and I admire their bold, graphic style. Finally, the I baste (or stitch) the fabric shapes to quilt block is NIGEL HART the cream background piece. Then I stitched into a use a traditional needleturn appliqué 40-centimetre HOTOGRAPH BY technique, where I turn under the raw (16-inch) P edge of the fabric with a needle as I do square pillow Lakeside daisy pillow an appliqué (or fell) stitch. I cross and I register the design for Friends of Bruce District Parks, I copyright. donate pillows in other colours to The Tempest their lottery or silent auction held at Specializing in container grown shop is no longer their annual Orchid Festival Trees & Shrubs native to Ontario in operation, so (www.orchidfest.ca) in Tobermory each October I every spring. raise funds for I only make designs of wildflowers I the Canadian have seen in person or “met,” as I like Breast Cancer to think. I look forward to “meeting” Foundation by more wildflowers, not just for their an online silent suitability as designs for appliqué quilt auction of a pink blocks, but as significant wildflower flowering plants to admire and pillow. I was protect for their important role in the heartened to environment. learn that the twin flower To see a world in a grain of sand (Linnaea And a heaven in a wild flower borealis) and Hold infinity in the palm of your fringed polygala hand (Polygala And eternity in an hour. paucifolia) -William Blake pillows were Muriel Hart lives in Toronto, where she (705) 466-6290 given as dreams about going with her husband [email protected] comforting Nigel on a heavenly wildflower trip to www.notsohollowfarm.ca objects to women the Arctic. All designs © Muriel Hart recovering from 2010 to 2014. Design & Consulting services available by OALA member surgery. For The

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 11 “The Maple Leaf Forever Tree” Lives on in Art

The Maple Leaf Forever is a song being created from the tree, many purpose part of the tree into written by poet, soldier and public commissioned by well-known decorative items for display at a school headmaster Alexander Muir to institutions such as the Royal Ontario museum. Michael saw this as a way to celebrate Canada’s Confederation in Museum (ROM), the Queen’s Own educate the public about the history of 1867. The silver maple tree (Acer Rifles and the Museum of Civilization. this tree in particular and about the saccharinum) that is said to have Craig Scott, Member of Parliament beauty and value of our native, locally inspired this unofficial anthem was for Toronto-Danforth (the riding grown trees to woodworking and felled by a windstorm in the summer where the tree grew) and Blue Rodeo artisanship. Michael offered to create a of 2013. The belief that the tree at 62 guitarist Colin Cripps approached the nested set of bowls with an artistic Laing Street, city with a plan to design for the ROM and they have two commissioned him to do the work. He also received commissions from people whose families had a historical connection to the MLF tree for pepper mills, pens and small bowls. A portion of the profits is being donated to LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests), a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the urban tree canopy. guitars The Ontario Wood Carvers MICHAEL FINKELSTEIN (one Association was given a part of the acoustic, trunk, about 2.5 metres (eight feet) in one electric) length and 80 centimetres in diameter HOTOGRAPH BY P fashioned from at the bottom (30 inches). Natural Maple Leaf Forever imperfections such as holes, a raccoon (MLF) wood. The guitars will likely This nested set of bowls by Michael den and, in some places, wood that is Finkelstein resides at the Royal Ontario be provided (in trust) to aspiring less than 2 ½ centimetres (one inch) Museum. Toronto musicians for one-year terms. thick are presenting interesting On that fateful July day, eco- creative challenges. The volunteer home of Maple Cottage in Toronto’s woodturner Michael Finkelstein heard carvers will take an estimated 6,000 Leslieville, was “The Maple Leaf from a friend that the famous maple carver hours to fashion 35 maple Forever tree” apparently sprang up in tree had fallen and rushed over to the leaves, each containing a relief carving the early 1900s. It is impossible to site. He wanted the opportunity to re- of an important person, place or event verify the truth of this belief since the tree was so rotten on the inside that foresters could not count the rings, according to Rob McMonagle, senior advisor, economic development for the City of Toronto. Still, the home of the massive tree was designated an official historic site by the City in 1992 and the silver maple itself is generally accepted to be the famous tree. To honour its significance, the trunk and branches were salvaged and donated to local artisans, carpenters, designers, millworkers and woodturners to be recreated as community art and cultural pieces for CHARLES ISCOVE display in museums, historical institutions and public buildings HOTOGRAPH BY across Canada and beyond our P borders. Over 400 unique pieces are What remains of the majestic Maple Leaf Forever tree.

12 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 momentous project, 20 to filter through the leaves. round discs from the MLF Much later, Rob was given more tree were sent to 20 remote substantial lumber from the tree and carving clubs. Carvers from created the Keela console table, one of each member club will the culturally significant furnishings incorporate a local piece of going into the renovation of Canada history into their disc. The House in Trafalgar Square in London, 20 discs will come together England. The table doesn’t look like in a carved “quilt.” Its final conventional maple; Rob used a resting place has yet to be natural finishing technique that brings determined. out the greys, greens and blues in the Dixon Hall’s Mill Centre wood. – a social enterprise that In a collaborative effort to promote provides carpentry and urban wood design and support urban skilled trades training to forestry projects, the City of Toronto youth at risk while is working with LEAF and Ontario manufacturing custom Wood on a Maple Leaf Forever Tree wood products – was exhibit at the Green Living Show in commissioned to refurbish March. Over a dozen designs using the speaker’s podium at the MLF wood will be on display at the City of Toronto, using MLF entrance to the show. “Rustle” will be wood. The wood was also one of the pieces auctioned off, with used to produce proceeds used to fund LEAF’s bookstands for the Toronto reforestation initiatives in the city. Public Libraries as well as a Rob Green loves the way using the limited run of MLF tree connects the Toronto commemorative bookmarks. The MLF logo and the story of Alexander Muir and the great tree are laser- etched into the bookmarks. Woodworker and designer Rob Green took the last of the sticks, twigs and a garbage bag full of dry leaves back to his workshop EMMA PERLAKY from the Maple EMMA PERLAKY Leaf Forever Branches Project. HOTOGRAPH BY HOTOGRAPH BY P What he created P Carving of the Maple Leaf Forever tree trunk by Ontario from these pieces Detail from the OWCA work depicting Canada’s fur trade Wood Carvers Association volunteers is still in process is memorable. He imagined the rustling of neighbourhood where it grew with the in Toronto’s history. Historians from the leaves on the living tree and, using country’s history. “I’m proud to be a Archeological Services Inc. and this as inspiration, created a hanging part of the tradition of woodworking Heritage Toronto provided assistance wall sconce that he named “Rustle.” in Canada. Through the MLF project in choosing the subjects. To ensure There’s a self-contained LED unit and all the artisans involved, this that members of the association from within the sconce that allows soft light across the province had a hand in this Continued on page 14

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 13 Continued from page 13 special old tree has been both renewed Fund at www.yourleaf.org/make- and remade.” donation or the Toronto Parks and In June 2013, in a special ceremony, Trees Foundation campaign, See the a sapling from the seed of the Maple Forest for the Trees, Leaf Forever tree was planted at www.torontoparksandtrees.org/maple- ROBERT GREEN ROBERT Todmorden Mills Heritage Site, the leaf-forever, to support the continual location of Upper Canada’s first paper replanting of the city’s tree canopy.

mill. Please consider making a HOTOGRAPH BY donation to LEAF’s Urban Forest P Rustle

Calendar of Events Remembering Carol Rykert February 19-20, 2015 In 1997, at the NANPS AGM at the Toronto Botanical 2015 LAND AND WATER SUMMIT Garden, Joan O’Reilly raised the question, “What is Albuquerque, NANPS doing to stop the clear cut logging of old growth Sponsored by the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico, red and white pine in Temagami forest?” The www.xeriscapenm.com. embarrassing answer was “Nothing.” I quickly devised a plan: NANPS would host a three- February 21, 2015 day international art camp at Temagami for the following WILD ONES 2015 DESIGN WITH NATURE CONFERENCE – year. I invited 22 of North America’s best wilderness CHANGING TACTICS artists to come and paint the wilderness landscapes they Minneapolis, Minnesota saw there. Nationally recognized landscape architect and ecologist The following week I received a surprise phone call Trevor Beck will be the keynote speaker, discussing how he from Carol Rykert, offering to underwrite the entire designs successional landscape communities that adapt to project including transportation, food and lodging, float change and disruption. aircraft and boats to take artists to the interior, the Visit www.wildones.org for details. publication of a 32-page colour art catalogue and honoraria for all artists. March 22, 2015 The almost 100 works of art were exhibited at the Arts OUR SPRING WILDFLOWERS AND THEIR WESTERN U.S. and Letters Club and the Temagami Town Art Gallery. All RELATIVES works sold quickly, raising $10,000 for the society. The art Marshall, Virginia catalogue was sent to all Ontario MPPs (Members of Free lecture presented by the Piedmont Chapter of the Provincial Parliament) with the message that the Virginia Native Plant Society. Temagami forest was too ecologically important to be Details at www.vnps.org. logged out. The subsequent media outcry, with input from NANPS and allied conservation groups, brought the May 28-31, 2015 proposed logging in Temagami to a close. NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY CONFERENCE Carol Stavert Hudson Rykert, who passed away in Tallahassee, Florida November, 2014, was a supporter of local literary, medical Visit www.fnps.org/conference. and arts groups, including the Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts and the Georgian Triangle Lifelong Learning June 3-6, 2015 Institute. Carol also served as a NANPS honorary NATIVE PLANTS IN THE LANDSCAPE CONFERENCE director. In 1967, as her centennial project, Carol Millersville, Pennsylvania introduced native plants to the family property in Online registration opens March 16, 2015, Collingwood, Ontario. www.millersvillenativeplants.org. Her philanthropy and passion for old-growth forests will be remembered and missed by kindred spirits. June 5-7, 2015 Even in the toughest of times, the arts provide, at the very NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB RESEARCH CONFERENCE least, a spark of hope and inspiration. Northampton, Anonymous, Globe & Mail, Jan. 3, 2015 Visit [email protected] for more information. Jim Hodgins Jim was the editor of Wildflower magazine for 20 years. For NANPS Events go to page 3.

14 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2015 WHEN IS A ‘FLOWER’ NOT A FLOWER? ASK AN EXPERT AND OTHER INTRIGUING QUESTIONS ABOUT PLANTS

By Larry & Carol Peterson Send us your native plant/ecosystem questions and This unique full-colour book conundrums. At the North takes common observations of American Native Plant Society, plants and presents scientific we can draw upon a wealth of explanations for them that the native plant knowledge and non-specialist can understand. experience to help you with Using a question-and-answer gardening challenges or plant format, the authors pose 140 CONNIE MILLER identification in the wild. questions and provide the Email your questions to answers, illustrating them with [email protected] or leave a

HOTOGRAPH BY striking images. 450 images. P voice mail message at Purchase the book at ironweed 416-631-4438. www.volumesdirect.com. (Vernonia noveboracensis)

Continued from page 1 – Snow Trillium

but more commonly by meligethine would find no evidence that the plants snow had melted when he excavated sap beetles. Though the beetles are were there. the plants to inspect them. visibly dusted with pollen, other Fred Case noted that snow trillium Within its wide range of researchers have found that these may freeze solid over a period of distribution, plants and flowers of beetles rarely travel from one flower to below freezing nights but continue to snow trillium may vary a great deal. another; hence they are more likely flower and set fruit showing no Fred Case came to this conclusion pollen predators than pollinators. appreciable damage. Skunk cabbage after growing what he referred to as The flowers can last for nearly two () emerges the Indiana form and a form from weeks. Once is successful, almost as early in the season, but this Michigan in his garden. He found the the fruits recurve and disappear happens due to a sugar reserve burned Indiana form was more vigorous and beneath the leaves. By mid-June, as to generate heat that melts snow set seed better than the Michigan fruits mature and dehisce to release around the plant and enables such form. He noted that the Indiana form seed, the aboveground growth rapidly early anthesis (the period during produced many seedlings and dies back. By late June, a botanist which a flower is fully open and expanded in his garden while the functional). Michigan form produced few viable Snow seeds and quickly disappeared. It is the trillium has Indiana form which most closely no such resembles its larger relative Trillium capacity, grandiflorum. although Of spring, Emily Dickinson said, “A botanist F. light exists in Spring/ Not present on M. Andrews the Year/ At any other period—When in 1921 March is scarcely here.” Although suggested the Dickinson was speaking of the season, trillium did we feel the sentiment applies equally somehow to this charming harbinger of spring. cause snow to melt. He Stephen Johnson and Mary Stark claimed to became enthralled by the genus Trillium STEPHEN JOHNSON have seen after seeing a roadside hill covered with hollow flowering white trillium near Spooner,

HOTOGRAPH BY domes over . P individual Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale) plants where

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