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Postcard from the Backyard

© Murdo Morrison

One of my major goals in this topic area is to encourage gardeners to discuss what they are doing in their gardens and to share information and experience. With that in mind I will send you occasional 'postcards' from the backyard to let you know what I am up to in my garden and to stimulate discussion on what you are doing in yours.

Recently, I received an assignment to write an article on Native Plants for the magazine New Jersey Outdoors. To gather some background material I went to speak with Rich Pillar at his nursery Wild Earth in Jackson, New Jersey. Wild Earth is a retail nursery that specializes in native plants of the eastern United States.

I had discovered Wild Earth some time ago when looking for sources for native plants for my backyard habitat. There are many good reasons to consider native plants for your garden even if you don't plan to create a backyard habitat. As Rich explained, they are well adapted to their local region and are generally hardier and tolerate the extremes of weather better than imports. They're also more earth friendly in that they need less water and chemical inputs than 'exotics'. Many of the native species are friendly to wildlife, providing food and cover. Using native plants helps to preserve our natural heritage and ecological diversity since development often displaces native plant communities.

It is very important not to collect native plants from the wild. Nurseries like Wild Earth either propagate their own plants or obtain them from known propagators. Rich really likes to grow from seed where possible. While native plants may cover a wide area, often there are local genotypes that are particularly suited to the immediate area. Rich tries to find seeds and plants that are as local as possible, preferably within 100 miles of his nursery.

While some native plants have made it into the gardening mainstream, many are not commonly used by gardeners. Often gardeners will plant hybrids not realizing that native equivalents are available. According to Rich, it is important to consider carefully what type of habitat you are trying to create and choose plants accordingly. When people consider natural planting they often think of an open field environment and wildflowers. However it is also possible to create woodland habitats with understory shrubs and shade plants. It is important to choose plants that fit the particular habitat you are creating. Using native plants successfully, therefore, requires some knowledge of your local area.

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