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Rediscovering Native Plants

© Murdo Morrison

Recently I made a pilgrimage (there is no better word for it) to one of the unique sites in the history of plant studies in America, the Historic Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia. John Bartram and his son William were pioneers in plant identification, illustration and classification. Incredibly, their house and garden still survive, surrounded by urban sprawl, tank farms and apartment buildings. Entering the garden, therefore, has the effect of moving through a time portal to another age. If you would like to learn more about the fascinating history of the preservation of Bartram's garden you may read the excellent article, Secret Garden, by Denise Cowie in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Bartram Historic Garden will celebrate the 300th. anniversary of John Bartram's birth in a Living History Festival on May 22nd and 23rd.

Visiting the garden on a weekday, I had the place largely to myself. In fact, I received a personal tour of John Bartram's house. Standing in his study, looking out into the garden, I had the uncanny feeling that he would return at any moment and ask me what I was doing there.

In his time, John Bartram was at odds with the highly formal, heavily manicured gardens that were then popular. The garden today retains much of a natural quality and has an excellent display of plants native to the area in a woodland setting. It allows the visitor to see what is possible when an alternative aesthetic to gardening is employed.

Native plants, although they are beginning to be rediscovered, have not really made it into the main stream of gardening. Gardeners who wish to use native plants often have a hard time finding them. The answer is to start asking for them and create a demand.

Why use native plants? Apart from being attractive alternatives to the commonplace plants found in foundation plantings everywhere, they are plants that are adapted to the geographic area in which we live. As such, they often provide a better resource for the indigenous fauna. Many native plants are important sources of food for birds and butterflies. If you want to attract either, native plants are usually a better solution.

Seeking native plants for my garden has involved some effort and frustration. This included ordering native plants by species name only to find the plants were misidentified by the nursery. I have found that the best way to track down sources for native species is to talk to people who are involved in large scale environmental restoration projects or landscaping. Recently, in the Delaware Valley, I have been able to identify two specialty suppliers of native plants (listed below).

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