[PCA] Backyard gardens

[Rick Huffman]

I am a Landscape Designer with a Degree in Landscape Architecture and I have
worked with the South Carolina Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife
Federation, American Council of Garden Clubs etc.... to develop a backyard
wildlife programs that encourage the use of native species. I am also
founder of the South Carolina Native Plant Society. The argument that by
promoting natives we cause harm in some ways to exploit wild populations or
pollute the gene pool for local ecotypes is one I have dealt with. The term
ecological restoration and landscape gardening are two distinct and things.
To promote the nursery propagation of native species that are not threatened
or endangered fill a void that would otherwise be filled by exotics, in my
opinion,  It serves native plants in general because the more we educate
folks about native plants and the habitats from which these plants grow they
are more inclined to support protection of the natural habitats. Also, we
have the opportunity to educate on exotic pest plants and the like so we can
serve the total ecosystem. My company does ecosysytem restoration as well as
garden design. With restoration, we are collecting seeds of local geno-types
and applying a plant community approach to projects. Hope this does not
muddy the water more.
 Rick Huffman,
Earth Design Inc, Upstate President, South Carolina Native Plant Society
  -----Original Message-----
  From: native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org
[mailto:native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org]On Behalf Of
Daniel Segal
  Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 11:43 PM
  To: native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
  Subject: [PCA] Backyard gardens


  Wow, what a great eco-philososphical question: is it beneficial or, in
fact, detrimental to promote, and use, native plants in backyard wildlife
gardens?  There should be hundreds of people chiming in here!

  From that seemingly simple question, the dialogue has evolved, both
recently on this listserv, and over the years in countless communities, to
the more complex, utilitarian one: do the benefits outweigh the detriments?
In a word, yes.

  The real issue, it seems to me, is one of rarity.  Rare plants are simply
more susceptible, in all ways, to our actions--disturbance in general,
leading to extirpation, extinction, or hybridization from the planting of
similar taxa in close proximity.  Perhaps the only way rare taxa are not
more susceptible is that we are much less likely to encounter them.
However, the important thing is that with critical mass, with significant
enough numbers of individuals, a taxon should be able to take care of
itself.   For common, abundant taxa, I doubt that anything we do can render
significant, irreparable changes in a short time.  In fact, to think we can
have such an impact may be hubristic, or at least misguided.  Most species
of plants don't suffer their moments of fate in the backyard, suburban
garden environment.  It is not a do-or-die arena.  In most cases the habitat
value in Suburbia is very low to begin with, and the most common plant and
animal species persist.  But note that has nothing to do with backyard
gardeners or gardening.  It has to do with development, poor land use and
management, and the value of short term gain despite long-term loss.  The
point being that do-or-die arenas are mesas, dunes, seeps, scree fields,
serpentine barrens, vernal pools, pocosins, etc., that typically harbor rare
taxa. Wherever these habitats are encroached upon by us and our actions,
then it is quite possibly do or die for those plants in the way, sadly.
Most backyard gardening is not taking place there.

  So it is important to advance from the theoretical to the specific--what
plants are we talking about?  Are we talking about a backyard gardener
planting 5 quarts of Asclepias incarnata around a water feature in a 1/4
acre backyard?  Does anyone really think that can have a detrimental effect
on anything?  The worst thing that may happen is that the seed source was
from the southern part of the range, and this backyard is in the north, and
the plants don't overwinter.  Even that happens far less than we native
plant people care to admit.

  If we are talking about large-scale restoration plantings, statistically
in most cases the numbers are still a blip.  750 plugs of non-local ecotype
Asclepias incarnata, or 3,500 even, are not going to do much in the big
picture to a wide-ranging, common species.  Further, the assumption among
most ecologists is that a shot of distand ecotype is bad for the local one.
I disagree--at least, it is not scientifically sound to assume such a
genetic infusion will be harmful.  It may well be beneficial, as
environments and conditions change rapidly, and most ecotypes have most
likely diverged from a common metapopulation anyway, so they should not be
considered as distinct from each other as different species are distinct.

  Any rarity issues should be handled locally.  Local seed, whatever people
in the area agree on to be local.  And that is standard now, or should
be--that local seed sources should be used in restoration work.  Don't blame
the nurseries if that is not happening!  Ask your agencies and hired
designers why they are not requiring local seed sources be used.  Local
doesn't have to mean within 1 mile but most reasonable biologists and
ecologists will agree on some distance or natural boundary.  The far greater
obstacle to this happening is the lack of foresight and budget--not the
inability of all involved to agree on some reasonable quantifiable range for
"local".  And most local nurseries would welcome the demand for stock grown
locally from local seed--it gives them a competitive edge.  Such a demand
would also do a small part in closing the loop and making life more local,
which I think is important to many people interested in backyard gardening
and the use of native plants.

  Education--I see backyard gardening as the environmentalist's gateway
drug.  It should lead to other things.  To greater depths of appreciation
for nature, to a greater committment to local and global environmental
awareness and action, and to the most important thing: love of nature, the
love of something greater than, and other than, ourselves.  In this love of
the natural world can be found the values that so many say are lacking in
today's society.  I hope life is not so ironic that habitat gardeners end up
being chastised for trying to do something peaceful and sustainable.  Yes,
the definition of native may end up being stretched a bit, but that will
change if enough people care to learn more about what is really a relatively
new trend.

  (*While some may argue that habitat gardening detracts from the real
mission of conservation, I think any of the home gardeners who want to do
both will do both, and any who are doing it simply for a look, or because
it's popularm wouldn't make effective conservationists anyway.)

  The underlying difference between ecological restoration and habitat
gardening is that the two situations have different goals, so they can
accept plants grown with different sets of values.  If you are a hardcore
backyard gardener then you find yourself wanting plants that are more
suitable for true ecological restoration--local source, seed grown, etc.  If
you are going for a naturalistic look and want to avoid invasive exotics,
for example, it's not a big deal if you don't know the origin of your
plants--your main concern is that they are regional natives.

  For what it's worth.  And I hope if I rankle anyone, that you will
respond!  It's rare that a topic can touch on so many of the best threads of
the human-plant interaction.


  Daniel Segal
  Nursery Manager, Pinelands Nursery & Supply
  (wholesale nursery in the eastern US serving the restoration market)




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20040719/1a1e83fd/attachment.html>