Great Natives of Midwestern Ecotype

June 2009 Edition

Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype

Sometimes history repeats it-self. In 2002, the emerald ash borer was discovered in Michi-gan and has been extending its radius of damage ever since.

Reminiscent of the spread of Dutch Elm disease, the destruc-tion of native ash trees is possi-ble on the same scale. But lessons have been learned from the past experiences.

Rose Lake Plant Materials Cen-ter (PMC) is taking steps to make sure that ash trees, in the event that the emerald ash borer cannot be contained, will not go the way of the elms from decades ago. The National Ash Tree Seed Collection Initiative has been started by the PMC.

This program is on the national scale and volunteers are needed. You can view or print the collection form from their site. The goal is to create a seed back that will serve as a genetic base for work to rees-tablish ash trees in the event of total decimation.

The program is set up to take in seeds from all sources and states. These seeds, once iden-tified and entered in to the da-tabase (location, collection time, species, etc), are then sent to the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Here the seeds will be x-rayed by the US Forest Service to deter-mine sound seed for storage. Upon being approved, ash seed will be stored for future genera-tions to use.

More information can be found at www.ashseed.org.

Volume 9 , Issue 1

THE BIG PICTURE: National Ash Tree Seed Collection Initiative

June 1 , 2009

Did you know...

• The emerald ash borer has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees in the Mid-west since 2002?

• Next month we will feature an exclusive interview with the Executive Director of Wild Ones?

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Plant Profile 2

Native on the Net 2

Best Books 2

Organization Spotlight 3

Native News 3

Planting with a Purpose 3

Deterring Dear Invasives! Fantastic Fauna Focus on the Future

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GNOME NEWS

G N O M E ’ S M I S S I O N

Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype (GNOME) is an organization focused on the preservation and expansion of native flo-ral and faunal species. The mission is to provide a net-based forum where mem-

bers can share their pas-sion, plans, ideas, and ques-tions with other people hav-ing a common interest. You can participate in many different ways.

1. Join our facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45643568296

2. Submit articles, pictures, sto-ries, or plans for publication.

3. Visit or link to the website 4. Pass on the newsletter.

I thought this might be a hard one to identify in Name that Native, but it got 100% of the votes. The plant last month was none other than Ceanothus americanus– commonly called New Jersey Tea.

This small woody shrub will grow only to about 3 feet tall. It has large and deeply veined leaves that are slightly hairy on the underside. Blooms are white and airy and emerge dur-ing mid-summer. The flowers are scented and pleasant. Pref-erence is for full to partial sun.

Faunal associations in-clude many insects like bees, wasps, flies, and beetles. Butterflies and moths will also utilize this plant– including skip-pers and azures. Hum-ming birds will visit the flowers to catch small insects to feed to their young. The leaves are also very palatable to mammals of all sorts.

As the common name im-plies, this plant was an American substitute for Eng-lish tea during the Revolu-tionary War. Though it con-tains no caffeine, it has a fair taste and color similar to many oriental teas.

Once established, this plant will be very drought resistant. Initially browsing mammals may make this difficult. It is a plant that can spread, usu-ally by seed. Seeds are “ejected” several feet from the parent plant (I think that is cool– similar to wild petu-nia).

I use mine with lead plant for a nice accent near my patio.

There are over 100 invasive perennials, vines, shrubs, and grasses listed in the book. While this book doesn’t go into great detail regarding the invasive plants or their his-tory, it is very comprehensive in the recommendations of natives to replace them.

You might be surprised at how many common landscap-ing plants are invasive!

The goal of the collaborative book between the Brooklyn Bo-tanic Garden and author C. Colston Burrell is twofold-

1. Make people aware of inva-

sive plants in the home landscape.

2. Provide native alternatives to eliminate those invasive plants.

The book is called Native Alter-natives to Invasive Plants.

This is an inexpensive, easy to use guide that gives you a great resource for the money.

Page 4

N A T I V E O N T H E N E T

Ceanothus americanus– New Jersey Tea

B E S T B O O K S – N A T I V E A L T E R N A T I V E S T O I N V A S I V E P L A N T S

This is a section of the Brook-lyn Botanic Garden site. Au-thor C. Colston Burrell part-nered with the BBG to write an all region guide of native alter-natives to common exotic plants.

This site highlights some of the most common landscap-ing plants and offers native alternatives.

The recommended natives were matched according to the desirable characteristics if the invasive one they are meant to replace. Things such as flowers, fruit, foliage color, and growing conditions were are taken into account.

For a more complete listing, check out the Best Book sec-tion below!

Sometimes wading through sites looking for good resources on na-tive plants is just too time consum-ing. This section should help!

This month’s featured site is : Native Alternatives to Invasives http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/plants/handbooks/nativealternatives/nativealternatives_weblist.html

“In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.” ~Abram L. Urban

An underutilized landscape plant, New Jersey Tea will attract all types of wildlife!

Volume 9 , Issue 1

With planting season in full swing, this book is a handy reference to have on hand!

GNOME News

“New name, same mission” is the slogan for Green America– formerly Co-op America.

“Our mission is to harness eco-nomic power—the strength of consumers, investors, busi-nesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.”

http://coopamerica.org

Empowering people to take both personal and collective action, this organization fo-cuses on the relationship be-tween issues of social justice and environmental ones.

Green America is not just an organization that points out issues. It finds and enacts solutions to these issues.

Their mission is to also “work for a world where all people have enough, where all communities are healthy and safe, and where the bounty of the Earth is preserved for all

the generations to come.”

The website provides invaluable resources for finding businesses, products and information related to their mission.

Many of their “Take Action” highlights have an easy Yes-I want to help! Button, making it easy to get involved.

Membership starts at $20 and this also gives you valu-able benefits.

filling the space between them with dirt. I think of it as a sort of land bridge.

I selected an area for a new bed and placed large rocks in a crescent shape with the curves opposite-think hourglass from above. Like this )(

Fill between with regular soil, or even add sand/soil mix if the dirt is heavy. This extra eleva-tion will all water to flow down

Ever wish you had better drain-age for some of those dry-loving plants like prairie smoke or pasque flower, but your yard just doesn’t provide a suitable spot? Try this method to give you the extra drainage that you need!

After killing several plants by planting them in average/dry soil, I realized that I needed more drainage. I created an accent by using large rocks and

to regular ground level and thus keep roots drier. This has ex-panded the types of plants I am able to have in beds.

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ORG A N I ZAT I O N SP O T L I G H T: G R E E N A M E R I C A

P L A N T I N G W I T H A P U R P O S E : E L E V A T E D D R A I N A G E

outside of the protected area, which Dr. Haddad called “spillover”.

"Most conserved areas are small – two-thirds are less than one square kilometer – so the spill-over effect with corridors gives a larger conservation bang for the buck," says Haddad.

He also noted that invasive and exotic species did not show the same effect. It is believed that birds use the corridors and assist in the seed spreading.

This conservation strategy has also worked in the fishing in-dustry providing a mutual benefit both fish and fisher-man.

A study recently conducted by a North Carolina State University biologist Dr. Nick Haddad and colleagues shows an unex-pected “spillover” effect of beneficial plants in connected landscape corridors.

By connecting small patches of isolated habitat with landscape corridors, many of the protected species expand their ranges

“Human beings, like plants, grow in the soil of acceptance, not in the atmosphere of rejection .” ~John Powell

Changing the world one gift at a time

N A T I V E N E W S : C O R R I D O R S S P R E A D B E N E F I C I A L P L A N T S

Creating a raised area between rocks will allow for extra drainage and cre-ate niches for plants on either side.

It is hard to believe that the white-tailed deer was once almost extirpated from many Midwestern states. These mammals, along with most of the other large mammals including elk, bison, cou-gars, and wolves were removed as land was culti-vated and human popula-tions grew. While few of these large animals have staged significant come-backs in the Midwest, deer populations are estimated to be higher than pre-settlement numbers in most states.

One reason for this phe-nomenon is that human habitation provides for the deer perfectly. Few large predators have access to them in suburbia (including hunters), high quality landscape plants ensure good nutrition, and this available food supply allow for high young survival rates.

With very high populations of deer in many areas, conflict is inevitable. High deer/car accident num-bers and damage to property are two common types of conflict. But a recent study done at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center focused on the impact that white-tailed deer are having on the nontimber forest products (NTFP) industry.

The NTFP industry is growing steadily. Examples of nontimber forest products include edibles such as fruits and nuts, medicinal and herbal products, and specialty floral and decorative items. The NTFP industry is a multiple billion dollar business in the US economy annually.

The study focused on 26 types of trees and shrubs to evaluate economic impacts on various nontim-ber products. These were all considered commer-cially valuable were grown in a 40 acre complex with a deer population density of 48 deer per square mile.

The findings of the study showed that some plants, such as pussy willow, didn’t sustain much damage– only a loss of about $26/per acre. While that is the low end (1% damaged product), the high end was much different. Plants such as “Blood twig” dogwood sustained 21% damaged product and a loss of $2031/per acre.

While damage varied, solutions to the damage did emerge. Plants harvested in the fall sus-tained far less browsing than those left until late winter.

So– what other things can be done to deter the voracious herbi-vores– especially in the home land-scape?

The most effective thing to do is to fence the area that you are trying to protect. Fenc-ing should typi-cally be 7.5 feet or taller to keep deer from jumping over it.

Where fencing isn’t practical, there are deter-rents. Home remedies that work to varying de-grees are human hair, soap, mothballs, and blood meal fertilizer. The most effective application of these is to use more than one and rotate their use. Most of these will need to be re-applied after rain.

Commercial products are available. Deer Off (below) works for deer and rabbits, but is more costly than the home remedies.

Landscaping with plants that deer dislike is also effective. Some of these are plants include plants in the mint family like hyssops or bee balms. Others like penstemons and milkweeds are just a few deer avoid.

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D E T E R R I N G D E E R - S T U DY I N DA M A G E C O N T R O L

A familiar site in much of the mid-west–

deer browse damage to arborvitae trees.

Volume 9 , Issue 1

“Nature always tends to act in the simplest way.” ~Bernoulli

Deer Off is one commercial product available to deter deer.

GNOME News

Heracleum mantegazzianu is an expanding invasive begin-ning to spread throughout the Midwest. It is commonly called Giant Hogweed.

I saw my first giant hogweed along the Apple River in north-ern Illinois at the end of May. It is truly a nasty plant!

It is a Eurasian plant which came to Amer-ica as an ornamental in the early 1900s.

Each plant is capable of producing 50,000 seeds, which stay viable for up to 7 years. This makes eradication a lengthy process.

The plant is highly toxic. The sap contains furocou-marins, which actually change your skin to be sen-sitive to light. It can cause anything from red dots on skin to severe burns requir-ing hospitalization. Your

skin remains light sen-sitive for up to three years after contact.

It is recommended that you call state officials to establish an eradica-tion plan. Mowing spreads the plant and cutting is not advised do to potential toxicity.

It can be mistaken for cow parsnip, Angelica, and poison hemlock.

Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. Many peo-ple, even if not afraid of snakes, display a strong dislike for them, especially when “surprised” by them in yards or gardens. Let’s take a closer look at a commonly encountered and harmless snake- Thamnophis sirtalis or the common garter snake.

This snake is one of the most widely distributed snakes in North America. It is lively, adaptable, and can survive extreme environmental condi-tions.

Easily recognized by the typical dorsal stripe, usu-ally accompanied by stripes on either side, this non-venomous snake usually lives in moist grassy environments with some cover, such as leaf litter, boards, or rocks. This makes finding them in suburban yards a likely prospect.

Garter snakes are what are considered low-level predators. These snakes consume small animals– both aquatic and terrestrial. Prey items include earthworms, slugs, snails, and are one of the few predators of amphibians, which usually have

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F A N T A S T I C F A U N A : T H E G A R T E R S N A K E

IN VA S I V E S- G I A N T H O G W E E D

chemical defenses. Due to the food habits of these snakes, one should welcome them into their yards and gardens.

There are other interesting facts about these snakes. One of these is that they give birth to live young. This occurs in July-October months. These snakes usually try to avoid contact with larger animals and will flee if given the chance. If picked up or cornered however, the can emit a foul smell-ing secretion to deter would be predators. They are important links in the food chain. Many larger animals will eat these common snakes. These snakes are a protected species in many areas.

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature; he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” ~John Muir

Giant Hogweed Distribution Green= Present

The common garter snake

Primary Business Address 1753 Wick Way Montgomery, IL 60538

Great Nat ives Of Mid-western Ecotype

Would a child, given a similar setting today, be able to even see a native plant like shooting star? Would it matter?

There was a discussion on an online forum recently about whether or not it is worth it to plant natives– whether it makes an impact at various levels (local, regional, national, global). Some people felt that a single yard or even a plant in a yard is too small to make an impact.

I was pleasantly sur-prised while visiting with my grandmother on Mother’s Day. My Grandma Akers is now 98 and still living by her-self on the family farm near Troy Mills, IA.

This surprise was due to a picture that I was shar-ing. I had taken some pictures of shooting star that was finally in bloom after three years. Grandma said “That’s shooting star!” and went on tell me that when she was a child, she used to pass a large patch of those flowers in the spring near some woods when walking to her grandparent’s house.

Our conversation went on to Memorial Day and old pioneer cemeteries and other prairie plants now only found in those locations. That made me wonder about what kind of impressions current gen-erations are left with.

I disagree. Think of the impact of the shooting star on my grandmother so many years ago. It wasn’t just the plants. The plants were one component of her memory of spring, her home, and her family. Shooting star served as a catalyst for our con-versation as well as her memo-ries.

Family heritage is important, as is our natural history. I offer this example to those that think that little impact is made by small

changes.

Natives in your landscape add diver-sity to an ecosystem that has func-tioned there for thousands of years. The interrelationship between na-tive plants and animals is so com-plex that even science cannot con-nect all of the dots.

But in addition to that, native plants connect other things. They connect us with the past– and that will make the memories that live to the future.

FO CU S O N T H E FU T U R E

E-mail: GNOME.Native@gmail.com

There’s no place like GNOME!

Shooting star bridges past and future

GNOME

Great Natives of Mid-western Ecotype (GNOME) is an organization focused on the preservation and expansion of native floral and faunal species. The mission is to provide a net-based forum where members can share their passion, plans, ideas, and questions with other people having a common interest in native species.

Check out our site!!!

Join our facebook group!

(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45643568296)

This is our primary forum location. The newsletter as well as open discussions are there and also other links to people and groups that focus on natives.

Got an article? Now accepting member submitted news and photos! Once you have something to share, send it to the email listed at left. Monthly news articles will, of course, give credit to the contributor. Everyone welcome!

We’re on the Web! http://gnomenative.webs.com/

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