native plants as alternatives

17 years ago

A recent post that ended up in a discussion of exotic, invasives came to mind today, while I was buying several native trees and shrubs at a SC Native Plant Society. They also had books, and one, which I bought, was a general one for all the USA, titled Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants. It's published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and cost me $10 - I am sure it is available from the BBG, but don't know the price from them. You can also go on-line for their list, including more alternatives - www.bbg.org/nativealternatives. They also have, in the back of the book, a great list of invasive species, by scientific name, common name and where they are being invasive, and a listing of other sources for invasive lists - I never would have thought of looking at the Federal Highway Administration for a list of invasives!

Hope this will be helpful to anyone interested.

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Comments (5)

dottie_in_charlotte
17 years ago
You coming back to tell us what you bought??
Dibbit
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh. OK, I got a Shumard oak, a chinkapin oak and a fothergilla major (flowering shrub). The chinkapin grows locally, but not right by me, so I would have had to make an effort to get acorns and try my own. The Shumard doesn't grow anywhere I am aware of locally; it has red foliage in the fall, so I've been wanting one. The fothergilla is another native I've been wanting, for its flowers and fall color, and will join the rest of my shrubs, next to the driveway, as it likes sun.

I think I will pot them all on to a bigger pot for the summer, and plant them in the ground in the fall - they will be bigger (and less likely to get bush-hogged, even though I put canes next to all my newly planted trees!), for the oaks, and the Forhtergilla is only about 4" tall right now, so it would also disappear in the mulch.

Due to other, unplanned-for things coming up, I had only 10 minutes at the sale, so no time to buy anything else before I got to my 12:30-4 volunteering commitment. They had some nice perennials I might have bought, if I could have looked at them better - some, I already had.
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alicia7b
17 years ago
It sounds like you got a good deal on the book.

We're not too far from the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill and they have beautiful display gardens with a lot of native plants (they have sections with non-natives too, but their real showstoppers are natives). That started me thinking about using a lot of natives years ago. I love the Wasowskis' book too, Gardening with Native Plants of the South. They did an excellent job with the descriptions and photographs.
Lynda Waldrep
17 years ago
I bought that book but felt it didn't offer enough suggestions. (Good as far as it went.) I agree that visiting the Bot. Garden in CH, the Bloomquist native section at Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, the native garden (forgot the name) in Asheville...not the big Arboretum but the smaller one closer to town. In SC I did go once to the gardens at Clemson but was disappointed...maybe they have added more natives now since Patrick McMillian is there, and he is a big proponent of natives. He would be one to check if you have questions for your area...very nice young man with incredible knowledge. Also, if you don't travel much, NC State has great photos with cultural requirements for a lot of wildflowers and native shrubs. I imagine Clemson does, too, but I don't usually "cruise" that site since I no longer live around there. Oh, I bought a Shumard oak years ago, and it is too big now. Nothing will grow under it, not even weeds! Oh, well. My cat likes the empty dusty dirt to roll in and dust himself. I wanted to mulch it, but my husband said I could not take away my cat's pleasure-place.
Dibbit
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, my Shumard is going in the field toward the road, and will be mulched, so the grass is a non-issue. I alredy have a water oak near the house - since it also has 4 bird-feeders hanging from it, any grass that grows has a hard time. I store my plants in pots that want shade under it - the hose reaches there nicely, so it isn't totally uninteresting. My cat rolls in the crusher run driveway, so she doesn't need any extra areas of dust. She also likes it under the water oak - all those birds don't hurt either.