sign in sign up
<<
Home , Castilleja, Iris versicolor, Lilium candidum, Saxifraga oppositifolia

WINTER 2007, VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE SOCIETY

Native Plant to Know

Indian paintbrush RANTON G coccinea RIGITTE B by Paul Heydon reaches heights of 60 centimetres (two

A number of years ago, while hiking ILLUSTRATION BY feet). The on the flower stalk on the Carden Alvar north of Toronto, are shaped like birds’ feet. The basal I stumbled across a stand of Indian leaves are either three-lobed or entire. paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea). It was The flowers are perfect (they have a breathtaking scene: a sea of brilliant both pistillate [female] and staminate scarlet, orange and yellow. I now go [male] parts), inconspicuous, in a back every year to see the show. dense terminal spike, irregular, Indian paintbrush is a terrestrial 2.5 centimetres (one inch) long, and herb found on alvars, moist meadows, borne in the axil of the bract. The prairies and open woods. At Carden it three-lobed bracts with showy scarlet grows on thin, moist soils over tips provide the spectacle. The limestone bedrock. Cattle graze the name coccinea means scarlet although meadow, preventing shrubs from sometimes the bracts are yellow and overtaking the flowering . Some look like their ends have been dipped of the species growing with it are in paint, hence the common name balsam ragwort (Packera paupercula), paintbrush. It’s the bracts, not the little bluestem (Schizachyrium inconspicuous flowers, that attract scoparium), wood lily ( pollinators such as hummingbirds. philadelphicum), hairy beardtongue Flowering takes place from May to (Penstemon hirsutus), prairie smoke August. The fruit is a small (Geum triflorum) and blue-eyed grass producing hundreds of small seeds. (Sisyrinchium montanum). When Botanists do not know how the seed combined with Castilleja coccinea, is dispersed. they offer a varied palette of scarlet, Most taxonomists place Indian orange, blue, pink and yellow from paintbrush in the figwort spring through summer. () family. Others place Indian paintbrush does not perform this plant in the broom-rape well in shade and is typically found on () family due to shared sub-acid to slightly alkaline soils. Its molecular features. Indian paintbrush range extends from the Missouri River is primarily a biennial, although west into Kansas and Oklahoma, and sometimes it can be annual, producing north into portions of , a basal rosette the first year and and . In Ontario flowering stalk the second year. The 50% of Indian paintbrush’s elemental plants die shortly after seed set. occurrences are found on alvars. Continued on page 12 The Blazing Star is... Shining Tree Woods Planting

The Blazing Star is published quarterly In fall 2006, a few NANPS members butternut from Port Stanley (Juglans (April, August, November, February) by planted trees in the old tobacco field cinerea), shagbark hickory from the the North American Native Plant Society at Shining Tree Woods (STW) in same seed zone (Carya ovata), (NANPS). Contact [email protected] Cultus, Ontario, owned by the North pawpaw from Tilsonburg (Asimina for editorial deadlines and for advertising American Native Plant Society. triloba) and American chestnut from rates. The views expressed herein are NANPS had received permission the same seed zone (Castanea those of the authors and not necessarily to plant endangered cucumber dentata). Already growing in the field those of NANPS. magnolias (Magnolia accuminata) through natural regeneration were The North American Native Plant Society from the Cucumber Magnolia tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera), is dedicated to the study, conservation, Recovery Team, a provincial white ash (Fraxinus americana), cultivation and restoration of North government organization responsible yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), America’s native flora. for endangered species recovery. red and sugar maples (Acer rubrum Winter 2007 Although cucumber trees are and A. saccharum), sassafras (Sassafras Volume 8, Issue 1 abundant in the U.S. they are rare albidum) and staghorn sumacs (Rhus in Ontario. STW has about 30 trees. typhina). A little rain fell to celebrate Editor: Irene Fedun The Recovery Team recommended the end of Phase One of our plan. Production: Bea Paterson establishing a population of 50 viable In Phase Two (spring 2007) we will © North American Native Plant Society trees at the NANPS property. Trees mulch the plantings in preparation for Images © the photographers and donated for the project were grown the dry summer months. We will also illustrators, text © the authors. using seed collected from STW over smother non-native invasives such as All rights reserved. the last few years. The team met twice mustard (Allaria petiolata) in North American Native Plant Society, in late October. The first time we the woods and cut out non-native formerly Canadian Wildflower Society, planted 40 three-year-old cucumber Scotch pines (Pinus sylvestris) and is a registered charitable society, no. saplings. Some went in near the edge roses (Rosa multiflora) in the field. 130720824 RR0001. where the forest meets the field. Working with the Recovery Team we Donations to the society are tax- Others were planted out in the centre intend to implement a co-operative creditable in . of the field. A light snow came just plan to help propagate and restore as we completed our work. cucumber magnolias to nearby sites NANPS Membership: CAN$20/YEAR The following week, among the and ensure that they remain WITHIN CANADA, US $20 YEAR OUTSIDE planted cucumber magnolia saplings protected. CANADA we interspersed other species: black Please make cheques and money gum from STW (Nyssa sylvatica), Greg Hagan orders payable to North American Native Plant Society and mail to P.O. Box 84, Station D, Etobicoke, Ontario NANPS PLANT SALE M9A 4X1. Telephone: (416) 631-4438. E-mail: SATURDAY,MAY 5,2007 - 10AM – 3PM [email protected] or leave a [email protected]. Web: MARKHAM CIVIC CENTRE voicemail message at 416-631-4438. www.nanps.org. 101 TOWN CENTRE BLVD.,MARKHAM NANPS Members can order their plants in advance at www.nanps.org Board of Directors: Volunteers needed for Plant Sale. Honourary President: James A. French High school students wishing to until April 8, 2007. Not all species Co-presidents: Miriam Henriques & fulfill their 40-hour community may be available and substitutions Harold Smith service requirements are also may be necessary if plants don’t arrive Vice-president: Ruth Zaugg welcome to volunteer. Contact on time. Treasurer: Deborah Dale Secretary: Grif Cunningham Tom Atkinson Green Living Show Martin Field Greg Hagan Volunteers are needed to help friendly attitude. Includes free Paul Heydon host NANPS booth at this huge admission to the show and lots Howard Meadd environmental showcase at Exhibition of time to view the exhibits. Friday, Stacey Shannon Place. Extensive plant knowledge is April 27- Sunday, April 29, 2007. not required, just enthusiasm and a Contact [email protected].

2NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 Naturalizing with Trees: A la recherche des arbres perdus by Tom Atkinson

The Garden of Eden conjures up lush, fruitful images. In our mind’s eye, we gardeners choose the plants in this mythic garden – which we hope to translate into our own earthly parardise – as our needs, wants, and whims dictate. But let us agree on one thing: one type of plant must grow in each garden, and that is the tree. There may be flowers, reeds, grasses, shrubs, ferns, water, sun, shade – the whole range of environments if all of us are to be satisfied, but the tree is essential. The first spring we were in our

home, my wife Linda went to a local TKINSON A

nursery and bought a few trees: OM paper birches (Betula sp.) and a T camperdown elm (Ulmus sp.), for example. (Yes, we do have non- HOTO COURTESY natives.) A year or two later, some of P them had deteriorated, even died. Yet Cornus florida and Cercis canadensis in bloom the two large silver maples (Acer saccharinum) we had inherited rained nuts themselves, I managed to start especially woodland wildflowers such down keys in June and produced quite a few trees. You must keep in as mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) many little maples. These I mind that a walnut is to a squirrel and wild ginger (Asarum canadense). transplanted around the yard. Some I what a baguette is to a Parisian. Plant Twenty-five years ago I discovered moved to a public walkway that runs a walnut and within an hour a squirrel what we call our Carolinian species both behind, and on one side of, our will have dug it up and eaten it. Not growing in Ontario. (A Carolinian property. Silver maples do well here, necessarily a bad thing, since squirrels species finds its most northerly range provided the city lawn-mowing crew are nature’s vectors in seed dispersal – in southern Ontario. Tulip tree or does not carelessly rip large chunks half the nuts they bury are forgotten, Liriodendron tulipifera is my prime of life-sustaining bark from the trees. allowing a tree to grow. In fact, example. It is found in greater One of the silver maples continues another trick you could try, if your abundance through the eastern o tower over the house, providing property is large, is to overwhelm the mountains of the USA. Midwestern nature’s air conditioning in these hot squirrels with largesse. Collect a species such as Ohio buckeye or summers. The other was struck by bushel basket of walnuts. Leave the Aesculus glabra are commonly lightning and had to be cut down. basket in your garden. After feasting lumped into the Carolinian taxon as Its stump is now trellis to a trumpet on these treats, bushy-tail and his crew well.) Off I went to local nurseries to creeper vine (Campsis radicans), will bury the rest. Come spring you find these gems. Some could be beloved of hummingbirds and, alas, will be thrilled to observe small found; many could not. (Now native wasps. walnut seedlings growing in your trees are more readily available. Visit Three decades ago I was doing a lot garden. Leave them where you found www.nanps.org/sources/frame.shtml of woodworking. That led me to them or move them in a month or for a list of native plant nurseries.) thinking: "Where does the wood come even next year. Those indigenous trees that I did from?" and "Shouldn’t I plant trees so In my yard the walnuts now provide find were less-than-reliable at times. that in future others might have wood architectural beauty in winter, lovely Some trees languished, even died. I to use?". It was about the same time light summer shade, a bountiful seed learned that native trees, especially that I fell – hard – for black walnuts crop, and enchanting, soft yellow those grown in your own garden (Juglans nigra). Planting this species colour in autumn. It is true that some (even if the seed is collected seemed like a good way to put my plants will be adversely affected by a elsewhere) will do quite well. With convictions into practice. substance, known as juglone, secreted that in mind, and wishing to have Using chicken wire to cover the bed by the roots, but there are many Ontario-sourced plants, I got into and prevent squirrel predation of the others that are perfectly happy, seed collection and plant propagation.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 3 I now have a cucumber magnolia each, but no berries so far! why. We have a few smaller specimens (Magnolia acuminata) that is 21 years Why do some species captivate us, but I am not optimistic that they will old, grown from seed collected in while others, so beloved of many, leave succeed. It is indeed worth the anguish extreme southwestern Ontario. us cold? If you know the answer, to hope they will. I’d like to take you on a whirlwind please write me. One tree which Now let’s talk oaks. In our city, we tour of the past 25 years as reflected in fascinates me is the ericad sourwood find black, red, white, and bur oaks the successes – and failures – of trees I (Oxydendrum arboretum). In the (Quercus velutina, rubra, alba and have grown. Failure is a painful southern U.S., it is almost a weed. Also macrocarpa, respectively). In Ontario, learning tool, but a good one. As you called lily-of-the-valley tree, its flowers we also have Shumard (Q. shumardii), start out, failure can be crushing. do look like those of the spring pin (Q. palustris), chinquapin (Q. Later, it morphs into an opportunity perennial. When the flowers go to muhlenbergii), dwarf chinquapin (Q. to learn, or move on. seed, the look is still there. prinoides), swamp white (Q. bicolor), When I was a teenager, my mother Sourwood can easily be started from Hill’s (aka northern pin or Quercus would speak wistfully of sweet seed, as any ericad can: place the ellipsoidalis) and bear oaks (Quercus chestnut (Castanea dentata). It had minute seed in a shallow bowl on ilicifolia). I have tried all of these in become a known "fact" that the moist sphagnum, mist the seed, and my garden. Some are a reach, yet chestnut blight that swept through cover it with plastic wrap. In a few succeed: pin and Hill’s oaks are good North America starting in 1904 had weeks, the seed will germinate. It takes examples. Our garden conditions say rendered these forest giants extinct. care and time for it to reach a size these two should fail from the get-go, So, when I found out that perhaps one where it can be outplanted. When you yet both do quite well. Black and bear percent of the chestnut trees had do so, you must ensure that your soil oaks hang in but ultimately fail due to survived, it was akin to finding out has an acidic pH – at least 6.0, incorrect soil conditions. that dinosaurs still lived in a remote preferably less. If you provide this Let me extol the virtues of the two wilderness. A good friend showed me condition, your sourwood has a good chinquapins. (They do interbreed, by where a few trees grew, some on her chance to thrive. In my garden, this the way.) The ones we have do well father’s farm. I collected nuts and species is both a failure and a success. anywhere in the garden. They are germinated them. Alas, it was not The specimen that was well over two neither troubled by periods of meant to be where I live. Castanea metres (six feet) tall - and flowered – drought nor periods of wet. The leaves dentata needs good drainage and a died two autumns ago. I have no idea are always a dark, glossy green. The more acidic soil than I am able to ELLS

provide. These beauties succumbed in W

my garden. AVID D Another favourite is sassafras, Sassafras albidum. I collected seed from naturally occurring trees in High HOTO COURTESY Park. If you hope to follow this route, P check the trees for ripe seed on or very near August 21st or the birds and squirrels may beat you to it. Sassafras seed takes at least one winter to germinate, sometimes two or even three. Some of my seeds germinated and the trees grew nicely. That year of the high water table caused serious problems with one sassafras. It almost died. A couple of years later, and about a metre and a half (five feet) from the tree, it sent up a sucker from the root. In time, the original tree died. The sucker is now a tree two metres (6.6 feet) high and quite healthy. A male and a female tree are needed for berry production. I have studied the flowers A walnut planted by Tom Atkinson in fall 1976 produced this beautifull on my trees and I believe I have one of specimen of Juglans nigra in his backyard

4NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 male flowers hang down in golden is not acidic (my rich clay loam has a heavier shade, the lower branches will chains in spring before the leaves are pH of about 6.8), it must be amended. get less sun, will not leaf out as the far advanced. Acorns are produced in My favourite fruit tree is pawpaw. In tree grows, and will drop off. That’s one year to feed blue jays and fact, I have chosen the first part of its why forest trees have long, branchless squirrels. The very best red in autumn Latin binomial, Asimina triloba, as my trunks, while open-grown ones spread leaves comes from the Shumard oak. e-mail ID. So long as the soil is not wide. Place your tree where it will The colour will dazzle you, but places too wet or too dry, pawpaw will do thrive. But do plant it. If you don’t, that sell these oaks are few and far well most places. The leaves look and in a few years’ time wish you had, between. Another tree I treasure is tropical and the fruit is delicious. you have just lost those years. swamp white oak. It has a soft down, Asimina is happy as an understorey Don’t be afraid of crowding trees, or indumentum, on the undersides of tree, so if you have high shade, try shrubs, vines, even herbaceous plants. the leaves. In nature it is found in this one. Some will do well for you, and others moist conditions but in the garden it Sweet crabapple (Malus coronaria) won’t. In someone else’s garden just can tolerate drier soil. and cockspur hawthorn (Crataegus the opposite pattern may prevail. It’s A superb tree, especially for its crusgalli) are underappreciated, small simply nature telling us what she summer shade, is the Kentucky coffee and floriferous native trees. Be wants and needs. tree (Gymnocladus dioica). When warned: both have thorns. Simply So, what’s keeping you? Start young, it is the ugly duckling: thick, trim them off as they grow ‘til the tree planting your own little paradise. angular, bare branches. In time, the is tall enough that you can walk under tree grows more graceful, with a it without striking the branches. The Tom Atkinson is a retired IBMer with an stately winter form, and exfoliating flowers on both trees are lovely. The avid interest in native plants, especially grey-brown bark with hints of rufous sweet crab blossoms in alternate years, woody ones, and terrestrial orchids. He, where the bark peels back. It’s tolerant produces yellow-green, waxy fruit, his wife and three plus itinerant of many soils and easy to grow. with excellent burnt-orange fall leaf wildlife (raccoons, skunks, birds, If you have moist-to-wet, acidic soil colour. The cockspur thorn has pear- butterflies, invertebrates) dwell within a please try black gum (Nyssa sylvatica). like flowers, red berries, and shiny, self-created, naturalized garden in mid- It will grow straight up, with limbs dark green, coriaceous (leathery) town Toronto. He may be reached at held horizontally. Leaf colour in fall is leaves. [email protected] – do not hesitate anything from burnt orange to fiery Woody plants grown in shade will to send e-mail. red. Site this tree carefully. If your soil grow more slowly than in sun. In

Calendar of Events Paul McGaw Memorial Conservation Award March 4-5, 2007 April 10-12, 2007 WILDFLOWER ASSOCIATION MANOMIN WATERSHED CONFERENCE The Paul McGaw Memorial OF MICHIGAN CONFERENCE International Falls, Minnesota Conservation Award recognizes the Lansing, Michigan Exploring ways to protect and extraordinary contribution of an For program info and registration visit enhance the health of the Manitoba, individual or group to the www.wildflowersmich.org/conf.htm Ontario and Minnesota basins. conservation, protection or restoration or e-mail [email protected]. Visit www.manominconference.ca. of the natural heritage/native flora of North America at the community, March 8-10, 2007 April 14, 2007 regional, provincial, national or 12TH WATER CONSERVATION / BACKYARD NATURALIZATION WORKSHOP continental level. Visit XERISCAPE CONFERENCE North York Civic Center www.nanps.org/awards/frame.shtml. Albuquerque, New Mexico North York, Ontario Submit your nomination by April 1st to Contact [email protected] at the See page 10 of this issue of the [email protected] or call our voicemail Xeriscape Council of New Mexico. Blazing Star for details. 416-631-4438. March 17, 2007 May 5, 2007 SEEDY SATURDAY NANPS ANNUAL PLANT SALE Scadding Court Community Centre Markham Civic Centre, Toronto, Ontario Markham, Ontario Suggested donation: $2. More info Look for advance sale information on posted in TCGN Enews and at the website at www.nanps.org www.foodshare.net.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 5 Truth or Consequences

by Sally Wasowski exploration. The bulk of our temperatures mean less moisture information comes from the work of because of evaporation. If rainfall A friend of mine, Neil Diboll of Asa Gray, professor of botany at doesn't increase with rising Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin, recently Harvard University, who received temperatures, drought occurs. said: "In nature there is no right or pressed plants from explorers all over Droughts are serious because we wrong; there are only consequences." what is now the United States and don't have the technology to remedy I think this is true. Even a casual published his first manual in 1848. them. In Taos, New Mexico, where [my observation of our landscapes shows The first scientific observations husband] Andy and I now live, wells that Mother Nature has no prejudice made west of the Mississippi River are going dry, and rivers and lakes are against alien and invasive plants. were in 1803 by the Lewis and Clark half full. Forest fires have become Nature abhors a vacuum, and she Expedition. When they explored the frequent, and they are not the doesn't care which species of plants sources of the Missouri River, crossed beneficial ground or surface fires that hold the soil as long as something – the Rockies, and wintered near the occurred every decade in prehistoric anything – does. Most of our efforts at mouth of the Columbia River in the times. The trees contain less moisture restoring and reconstructing native Pacific Northwest, the land they were than ordinary lumber and they are landscapes are based on our earliest traversing was uncharacteristically lush jammed close together. The result is data when North American vegetation and overgrown. This was so for two that any lightning strike or carelessly was least influenced by European reasons. The impact of Native managed campfire can cause a imports and land management. This, American populations on the land had devastating crown fire. necessarily, means that our concepts of recently been reduced by more than If the drought continues, there will what is truly native reflect which half because of widespread and be a permanent shift in vegetation plants were recorded by botanists in devastating epidemics of European here. Big sagebrush, the cornerstone of the early days of settlement and diseases. And the climate had been an ecosystem called Basin and Range unusually cool that extends up into Canada, is and moist since beginning to die here in its 1600. Known as southernmost toe, and if it does, the the Little Ice soft blue-green vistas Taos is famous Age, this cooling for will be replaced by brown, blowing trend ended in topsoil. 1850, just as I think that what we are talking Americans of about here are visible signs of global European warming. This is a controversial topic, descent fraught with politics, but it cannot be populated denied that our world is getting western North warmer. Glacier Park in Montana had America and 150 glaciers when it was mapped in plowed up the the late 1800s, and now it has only 35. prairies. The famous "snows" of Kilimanjaro in Since then, the Africa lost more than 80 percent of climate has been, their area in the 1900s. The Qori Kalis on the average, glacier in the is shrinking at a warming. So, rate of nearly two feet (1/2 metre) a although we are day. The sea ice that covers the North basing our Pole is thinning, and in Antarctica knowledge of huge sections of the Larsen B ice shelf native plants on collapsed in 1995 and 2002, letting at where they were least five glaciers loose to starting about 1850, we slipping toward the ocean. When they are dealing with arrive, sea levels will rise. warmer and Climates all over the globe are drier conditions. changing before our eyes. In the past, Warmer there has been sufficient time for

6NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 forests to retreat northward or to Where the land is essentially crowding out, our native cottonwood higher elevations where temperatures undisturbed, this would not be bottomlands if we hadn't built dams are cooler and evaporation less fierce. necessary, because the more drought- to stop annual flooding on our rivers. There has been sufficient time for new tolerant species are already built into Invasives would not be overrunning species to evolve as the deserts the native diversity. But we have little our eastern forests if we installed expanded. In this century, the plants intact land left. American Indians power lines without bulldozing the will need our help. What I've observed maintained rich and healthy ground underneath them with is that southwestern grasslands ecosystems, and we of European bulldozer blades contaminated with established before 1850 can hang on heritage have almost completely weed seeds. Our roadsides could as in severe drought, going dormant destroyed our native landed wealth. easily be revegetated with natives as when conditions are especially tough Ecologists are developing techniques alien invasives, and many highway and coming to life whenever rains for restoring and recreating prairies, departments are working hard on this. allow. But once those grasslands are savannas, and forests, but the efforts Maybe it's because I'm more of a destroyed, they do not regenerate on I've seen are to restore the ecosytems positive person than a negative one, their own. They are gone forever that existed in 1850 or 1700 or but I think that the answer is not to unless we replant them, and in the whenever American Indians were last poison what we don't want but to Southwest they need to be irrigated to in charge. We need these skills, and plant what we do want - not to germinate and irrigated again to grow these are definitely the best guidelines destroy, but to maintain for what we enough to form a soil-holding cover. we have. want. If we mow regularly, we get The result? Non-natives adapted to But maybe we need to change the some semblance of a lawn. If we mow harsh climates, disturbed soil, and focus to figure out which new once a year, we get a prairie. If we human intervention are taking over. configurations of American plants are burn once a decade, we get a savanna. But even in eastern forests, and most likely to succeed in our changing If we burn once a century, we get a midwestern prairies, where rainfall is climate. In Taos, for example, I would forest. sufficient for germination of native choose to plant those grasses native to We humans live all over the world. species without supplemental us that are also native to hotter drier All landscapes are shaped by us. irrigation, alien invasive plants are places nearby like Albuquerque and Native Americans managed the taking over. Our native plants support Farmington. Those grasses should landscapes of North America for a complex web of mammals, birds, have the best chance of being able to maximum health, and they did a good and insects, and because plant roots germinate with our new heat and job. I bet modern Americans are smart prevent soil erosion, they are also vital reduced rainfall. And I don't mean enough to do it too. We just need to to clean water, fish, and amphibians. If choose one grass to plant. I mean make it a priority. We need to think our continent becomes populated only choose 10 grasses and 20 flowers to long term instead of short term. We by non-native invasive species, our plant so that each ecological niche can need to be generous instead of greedy. lives will be greatly impoverished. So, be filled. Then we all benefit. we're facing two problems if we wish As to the alien invasive species, I to maintain our rich botanical don't think we can just pour poisons This article is the final chapter of a book heritage here in North America - a on those we don't like, either because entitled Requiem for a Lawnmower by warming climate and invasive species. they are not native to the or Andy and Sally Wasowski from Taylor Where we can create wildlife because cattle don't like to eat them. Trade Publishing, reprinted in 2004. It is corridors, wild species will be able to Poisons hurt far more organisms than reproduced here with the permission of move around as the climate changes. the plants we target. Plus, it is not the authors. Where we can't, we may have to start likely that we will completely remove Sally Wasowski is a landscape designer, replanting our native lands. these plants from our continent. They educator and past president of the Native This sounds daunting, but we have are here to stay, whether we like it or Plant Society of Texas. Andy Wasowski is been subsidizing ranchers and farmers not. a freelance writer and photographer to do this for decades. The focus has Without our interference, most of specializing in environmental issues. been on the health of cattle and other these invasives would probably be Together they have written nine books livestock, and the seed has been alfalfa quickly absorbed into the existing on native plants including Native and non-native grasses. But we could landscapes. Russian olive and tamarisk Landscaping from El Paso to LA and change that. We could grow, harvest, or privet and Japanese honeysuckle Gardening with Native Plants of the market, and plant native seeds. would be coexisting with, not South.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 7 Floral Emblems Update

by Irene Fedun

"Tunngasugitti!" – A long-overdue "Welcome!" (in Inuktitut) to Canada’s OURNIER newest floral emblems: the purple F

saxifrage ( oppositifolia) ONNIE B adopted by in 2000, and the blue flag () adopted by in 1999. LLUSTRATION BY I

Purple saxifrage Like the resilient who have made Nunavut their homeland for millennia, the purple saxifrage flourishes in a harsh but breathtakingly beautiful environment. Purple The name Saxifraga means saxifrage stone-breaker, due to the old fanciful notion that these charming plants caused the cracks and crevices they inventive now occupy on rock outcroppings. – to survive in its Purple saxifrage grows like a bright harsh surroundings. By purple cushion on exposed rock, in growing close to the ground it is damp crevices in cliffs, and in moist, protected from transpiration and the Also known as French-knot moss or calcium-rich gravel. Commonly abrasion caused by wind-driven sand aupilaktunnguat in Inuktitut, purple found in the , it also grows in or snow. Another adaption to the saxifrage is one of the earliest- mountainous areas further south, conditions is the crowding of the tiny flowering plants in the Arctic. As such including the Rockies, the grey-green leaves. These are normally it is most welcome, both for its bright Adirondacks, northern Britain and so close together they overlap. Only flowers and its nutritional value. The the European Alps. Scientists believe the part of a leaf that is covered with Inuit would eat the sweet blossoms. that glaciers carried the seeds to other leaves has stomata (minute is also the these far-flung locales. orifices in the epidermis of the leaf) source of gold, green and cream- When the snow melts and the offering some protection from the coloured dyes. ground warms, usually in April, elements. The light-exposed leaf purple saxifrage starts to bloom surfaces are almost devoid of stomata. Blue flag iris (although some flowers may not At least one biologist believes that this After 36 years as the appear until July). The Inuit were prevents against excessive of Quebec, the European madonna lily attentive to the start of its flowering transpiration. () was retired in time knowing that it coincided with Purple saxifrage can be grown in favour of the native Iris versicolor.In calving among the caribou herds. cooler climates as a rock garden plant. Quebec the blue flag iris is known as Pretty Saxifraga oppositifolia flowers, Create conditions that imitate its fleur-de-lis or clajeux. The Ojibway which generally last 10-14 days, may native arctic or alpine environments. not be present at all where the snow Provide fast-draining, gravelly soil. **It goes without saying (but I is deep and the ground does not thaw Plant on a sunny, northeast-facing feel compelled to do so nonetheless) until late summer. The abundance slope to minimize exposure to direct that native plants – emblems or not of flowers is strongly linked to the sunlight. Consult your local rock – should not be dug from the wild. intensity of the sun from July to garden society or native plant grower The only time this is justified is September the year before. Floral bud for seeds. Be sure to ascertain that when a natural area is about to be development happens in the fall while plants have not been dug from the ploughed under (despite all the ground is free of snow, making wild. ** Do not fertilize purple attempts to stop development). In overall solar radiation a critical factor saxifrage; it is adapted to nitrogen- this case, you must get permission in flowering. poor soils. Fertilized plants will from the landowner to enter the While purple saxifrage may appear sacrifice flowers to produce lots of property and remove plants. delicate, it has to be tough – and leaves.

8NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 name is Weekaehn (that which lists Iris versicolor as native as far south are said to have used the plant as a extracts). Common names include as Virginia, west to Minnesota but with cathartic and an emetic. A fine blue harlequin blueflag, snake lily and isolated pockets way out in Idaho. infusion used as a test for acids and dagger flower. The first name appears Another source claims it can be found alkalies is derived from the flowers. to be a compliment to the flower’s in Florida. In Quebec the iris grows colourful markings while the other two naturally from the St. Lawrence Valley The Western Red Lily of Saskatchewan may well refer to the sword-like leaves. to the shores of James Bay. During the last half of the 20th The genus name refers to the classical The habitat requirements are century, the habitat of the western red goddess whose visible sign was the moisture, sun and loamy or peaty soil. lily (), rainbow. As the Latin species name Abundant in swamps or low grounds, Saskatchewan’s floral emblem since implies, Iris versicolor flowers vary Iris versicolor can be found in forested 1941, was being overrun by urban widely in colour. They could be light to wetlands, wet meadows and sedge sprawl, farming and industrial deep blue or mauve, or even white, meadows, on marsh and bog fringes, development. Suppression of fires that with yellowish and whitish markings. and on lake, pond and river shorelines. had historically rejuvenated prairie A water-side and shallow-water plant Associated species include other irises, grasslands exacerbated the problem. of central and eastern North America, cattails (Typha spp.), tamaracks (Larix What’s more, the western red lily is different sources quote widely varying laricina), sweet gale (Myrica gale), bog slow to germinate and a fickle bloomer. ranges for this plant. Most sources for birch (Betula pumila), black spruce Saskatoon botanist Anna Leighton says, Canada agree that it grows as far east as (Picea mariana) and leatherleaf "It may come up gangbusters one year Newfoundland but only as far west as (Chamaedaphne calyculata). and disappear the next". She Manitoba; others say Saskatchewan. A heliophyte, Iris versicolor requires collaborated with biologist Bonnie The U.S. Department of Agriculture direct sunlight to flower well. It blooms Lawrence on a 10-year field study of in May and June Lilium philadelphicum and discovered with two to three that the plant, already a protected EPWORTH

H blossoms on each species, is "dwindling". ON R stem. The down- In the year 2000, the Shand curved are Greenhouse, a facility powered by waste prominently heat from a coal-fired generating plant HOTO COURTESY

P veined. The long, operated by SaskPower, agreed to take narrow, olive to on the ambitious project of bringing grayish-green the lily back to some semblance of its leaves grow out of former glory. Some 350,000 seeds the creeping collected from private properties were . sown by hand. Shand staff were pleased The rhizome is to discover that over 200,000 sprouted. poisonous as Research trials into methods for the many people have mass propagation of Lilium discovered who philadelphicum under greenhouse mistook the plant conditions began in 2001. The lilies for sweetflag were outplanted into five different test ( calamus) beds around the province. In the whose roots were summer of 2004, the first lily bloomed. chewed by Native To celebrate Saskatchewan’s 100-year Americans. anniversary in 2005, SaskPower held a However, the root Centennial Draw giving away some of Iris versicolor is 24,000 plants. Last summer, e-mails the source of and phone calls from winners of the Iridin, an official draw came pouring in confirming that drug of the U.S. their lilies had overwintered (in some Pharmacopoeia, cases the survival rate was as high as which has diuretic 100%) and were growing happily. A few and laxative even sent photos of lilies that were properties. North about to bloom. Blue flag iris American Indians Continued on page 10

WINTER 2007 9 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY Continued from page 9 New & Noted

The western red lily project has been hugely successful. It’s a great way Food Not Lawns: native plant gardeners will find much to increase awareness of the province’s How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and useful information in the book. natural history, celebrate the centennial and bring back these brilliant blossoms. Your Neighborhood into a Community Chapters such as "The Water Cycle," By H.C. Flores "The Living Soil," "Plants and White River Junction,Vermont: Chelsea Polycultures," "Seed Stewardship" and Green, 2006. "Ecological Design" are all focussed on 334 pages, paperback, $25US ecological principles, and these ISBN 1-933392-07-X principles are brought down to earth LEGRID A with detailed how-to advice. It is in

LDRICH "Food not lawns," and who wouldn’t the final chapters, with titles such as A agree? This cheeky book title (also the "Beyond the Garden" and "Into the name of a grassroots gardening group) Community," that Heather Flores’s

LLUSTRATION BY provides a big clue as to the tone and social and community goals come to I approach of this, at times, irreverent the forefront of the text: "Our gardens and always politically-engaged must not only produce food for Western red lily handbook. Subtitled "How to Turn ourselves and other living beings, but Your Yard into a Garden and Your also create a backdrop for whole In 1988, the Canadian Wildflower Neighborhood into a Community," communities of people working Society (which later became the North this is an activist toolkit masquerading together to reduce their personal and American Native Plant Society) published as a gardening book (and I mean this collective impact on the natural a booklet written by Lawrence Sherk in a good way). Author Heather Flores world." entitled Growing Canada’s Floral is concerned with the role gardens Food Not Lawns provides a good Emblems. NANPS is in the process of play in a "complex community primer on incorporating ecological updating this booklet with the addition ecosystem," and thus, her approach is ethics into all aspects of our lives, of Saxifraga oppositifolia for Nunavut holistic, highlighting the many starting with the garden and growing and the change to Iris versicolor for connections between the plots of land out to the world. Quebec. More detailed information on how to cultivate these two plants we tend and the larger environment in Review by Lorraine Johnson, author is provided. The booklet, complete which we live. of 100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants and with updates that include a colour p While there is little specifically The New Ontario Naturalized Garden. hoto of each plant, can be purchased devoted to the subject of native plants, for $5. Please mail your cheque to NANPS, Box 84, Station D, Etobicoke, Backyard Naturalization Workshop Ontario M9A 4X1.

Gardening Notes This one-day workshop hosted by Informative handouts. NANPS 2006 Conservation Award An overhead presentation featuring winner Dan Bissonette blends the best over 100 beautiful images of native "Gillian Boyd’s observation (from of traditional garden concepts with trees, shrubs, wild flowers and the fall 2006 issue of the Blazing Star) proven approaches to naturalization. wetland plants. that seedlings are especially prolific Landscape concepts such as An interactive exercise on planning amongst the gravel bears out my own planning, design and construction. and design. experience of seedlings amongst my Native plants and attracting When? Saturday, April 14, 2007 brick patio." Jim Hodgins wildlife. 9AM – 3PM Natural heritage, composting, soil Where? North York Civic Centre, The Blazing Star welcomes all health, water conservation and lawn Committee Rooms 1 & 2 comments on gardening with native care. Space is limited! Only $20 for NANPS plants. E-mail to [email protected] Discussion on key definitions and members, $30 for non-members. or write to Editor, NANPS, Box 84, terms associated with naturalized To reserve your space send a cheque Station D, Etobicoke, Ontario, landscaping. to NANPS, PO Box 84, Station D, Specialized landscape projects, such Etobicoke, ON M9A 4X1. Voicemail M9A 4X1. as butterfly gardening and backyard (416) 631-4438 or e-mail at ponds. [email protected].

10 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 Impacts of De-icing on Native Plants

Every winter municipalities and job done. If the expected winter storm works at much lower temperatures homeowners across North America does not occur, sweep up any unused and is applied at a much lower rate. pour hundreds of thousands of tons of de-icing chemicals and reuse for the Avoid products that contain urea. salt and other de-icing materials on next snowfall. Urea is touted by some as a safer roads and sidewalks. Commonly, To protect your garden, learn which alternative because it does not contain sodium chloride (NaCl), an plants are sensitive to salt. If you have chlorides but is a form of nitrogen that inexpensive and readily available de- salt-sensitive trees, shrubs or grasses, will help fertilize your yard. However, icing agent, is used. The salt and de- it performs poorly when temperatures icing chemicals are carried by melting drop below –6C (20F), and most of the snow and ice onto vegetation along nitrogen will wash off into the storm the roadsides and eventually into drain and contribute to the excessive bodies of water. This can have nitrogen levels already in our significant impacts on trees and environment. RANTON other plants. G Elevated salt levels in soils inhibit SOME NATIVE SPECIES AT RISK RIGITTE plants’ ability to absorb water and B FROM SALTING nutrients, and impede long- Deciduous trees term plant growth. As Red maple Acer rubra ILLUSTRATION BY roadside vegetation is Sugar maple Acer saccharum degraded, its effectiveness Hickory Carya spp. as a buffer (slowing Redbud Cercis canadensis runoff of contaminants Green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica into the watershed) Tulip poplar Liriodendron tulipifera diminishes. On the other hand, in Conifers some areas, salt- Balsam fir Abies balsamea tolerant, aggressive Hemlock Tsuga spp. native plants such White pine Pinus strobus as cattails (Typha Shrubs latifolia) and the common reed Dogwood Cornus spp. Hawthorn (Phragmites communis) have pushed Hawthorn Crataegus spp. out other roadside plants. Rose Rosa spp. Use common sense to minimize avoid using de-icing products that Spiraea Spiraea spp. environmental damage. Clear contain chlorides (rock salt and walkways of snow before it turns to calcium chloride) or use very small Adapted from an article that appeared in ice. Be aware that salt and de-icers are quantities. Sand may be a better Wild Ones Journal, January/February not effective with accumulations of choice. The recommended application 2006 with information from the 7.5 centimetres (three inches) or for rock salt is a handful per square Environmental Literacy Council, more. Focus on high-use and graded metre (square yard). If you have a StormCenter Communications, Elliott areas where traction is critical. Apply choice, pick calcium chloride over City, Maryland, and the Regional the least amount necessary to get the sodium chloride. Calcium chloride Municipality of Niagara.

Speakers Wanted

Do you have a short presentation on a native-plant- related topic? NANPS is planning to host a series of seminars in northeast Toronto through the summer/fall of 2007. If you’d like to help, please contact [email protected]. Nominal remuneration available. NANPS also receives requests for speakers around North America. If you’d like to be listed in our speakers’ database, please send information concerning your talk topics/format/location/cost and other requirements to [email protected].

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007 11 Continued from page 1 cultivation they germinate after NANPS Native two–three months of moist/cold Indian paintbrush is a root stratification. I put seed in a labelled Plant Quiz hemiparasite, which means it is Ziploc bag with just enough moisture partially parasitic, acquiring some of to prevent the seed from drying out The North American Native its water and nutrients from haustorial and place it in the refrigerator at 2-5˚ C Plant Society is rejuvenating its connections with a host plant. (35-41 F). The first year I did this the Haustoria are specialized absorptive seed rotted. To remedy the problem I website to make it more organs that invade the roots of host put sulphur, a natural fungicide, in fascinating and member- plants. Haustoria are formed in the with the seed. In the spring I sow the friendly. We would love to have root system of Indian paintbrush and seed on any suitable germinating members visit more often to development is signalled by molecules media. Usually more than 50% of the exuded by the host plants, allowing seed germinates. When seedlings form gather information, share the roots to become partially a rosette with five or more leaves I tease gardening highs and lows, learn heterotrophic. The rest of the them out and plant them into the about upcoming events and resources are produced from garden beside other plants or into salivate over glorious autonomous photosynthesis. Many 10-centimetre (four-inch) pots with a hemiparasitic plants have much higher host. Do not let them dry out! In my photographs of native plants. To transpiration rates than their host limited experience Castilleja coccinea entice NANPS members to the which enables them to divert the flow does not self-sow into gardens; I have website we are launching a of resources from their host. I have to plant seedlings every year. native plant quiz that will grown Indian paintbrush without a Indian paintbrush is wonderful to host but the plants were less vigorous. have in a garden since flowering appear in every issue of the The host range includes balsam continues throughout the growing Blazing Star. You may know all ragwort, prairie smoke, hairy season (if there is ample moisture) the answers already and we beardtongue and little bluestem. Hosts providing gorgeous colour. salute you if you do. If you differ in quality of resources such as nutrition and defensive secondary Paul Heydon is a biologist/ecologist who don’t, check out the website at compounds that could be transferred owns Grow Wild Native Plant Nursery and www.nanps.org. to the parasite. Paul Heydon Biological Consulting. He In the wild, Indian paintbrush loves exploring the natural world. Question #1: usually germinates in early fall. In Which of the following four plants is not native to Ontario: JOIN NANPS Veronicastrum virginicum, Your donations and membership dollars help NANPS to study, conserve, cultivate Andropogon gerardii, Echinacea and restore North America's native flora. Members receive our quarterly newsletter, purpurea, Ratibida pinnata? the Blazing Star, and are eligible for NANPS-sponsored excursions and the Seed Exchange. NANPS is a registered charitable organization (no. 130720824 RR0001) Give the common name for founded in 1984. Donations to the Society are tax-creditable in Canada. Tax each one. To find the answers receipts will be issued for donations of $20 or more. and discover other interesting ___ $20 / 1 calendar year (Jan.–Dec.) facts about the plants visit our ___ $40 / 2 years website at www.nanps.org. ___ $60 / 3 years ( ___ send me a free NANPS pewter pin as a bonus for my 3-year membership) Question #2: ___ $200 Sustaining Membership (includes a Canadian tax credit for $100 Is the tamarack (or larch) a and a 5-year membership) deciduous or coniferous tree? NAME: ______ADDRESS: ______Question #3: ______PHONE: ______Which wood makes the best FAX: ______hockey sticks? White ash, EMAIL: ______lodgepole pine or red spruce? Please make cheque payable to the NANPS and mail to Box 84, Station D, Etobicoke, Ontario M9A 4X1. For info, call (416) 631-4438; e-mail [email protected].

12 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY WINTER 2007