By KAREN B. HUNTER
On a cold, gray, dead-of-winter kind of day in February, renowned gardening expert, author, speaker and radio host C.L. Fornari stood in her backyard on the Upper Cape cradling a small branch of one of her favorite medium-sized trees, the sweetbay magnolia (magnolia virginiana).
“This is an interesting native tree because it is semi-evergreen. It holds its leaves for a long time into the winter,” Ms. Fornari said.
When the leaves of this magnolia finally fall off the tree long after other trees have gone bare, the silver underside of the leaves provides visual interest as they are blown around on the ground. “This native tree should be planted more often on the Cape,” she said.
“For so long, the exotic plants have been viewed as more sexy—those pink bubblegum kwanzan cherry trees and blue ball hydrangeas, for example—they’re flashy. People are attracted to the shiny things, the showy things,” she said. “Unfortunately, natives are not given the respect that they deserve and need.”
An awareness of the value of using native plants in gardens and landscapes is gradually increasing as the benefits of doing so are more commonly understood.
An Audubon Society website states that restoring native plant habitat is “vital” to preserving biodiversity, and lists compelling reasons to plant native species in yards and gardens.
Once established, Audubon says, native plants generally require little maintenance, thereby drastically reducing the use of the artificial fertilizers and synthetic chemical pesticides commonly used on lawns and bark-mulched landscapes.
Native plants, especially long-living trees like oaks and maples, are effective at storing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which helps the earth’s climate, the site states.
Because native plants have adapted to local environmental conditions, they require far less water—a boon for drought-stricken areas.
Native plants provide vital habitat for birds and other wildlife species. Butterflies and moths are all dependent upon very specific native plant species, Audubon says. “Native plants provide nectar for pollinators including hummingbirds, native bees, butterflies, moths, and bats. They provide shelter for many mammals. The native nuts, seeds, and fruits produced by these plants offer essential foods for all forms of wildlife,” the site states.
Native plant species and co-existing wildlife are those which have evolved to their local conditions and climate without human intervention over thousands of years.
“The definition of a true native (in North America) is something that was here before the settlers arrived,” Lori A. Archer, resident native plant expert at Scenic Roots Garden Center on Route 6A in Sandwich, said during a recent interview.
“The benefits of gardening with native plants is to create habitats for wildlife, insects and pollinators,” she said. “Many true native plants, such as the scrub pine and scrub oaks, are a huge pollinator source of food. They flower in the spring and have bugs on them for the birds to eat.”
“If you look in your yard, chances are you already have some native plants,” she said. “Inkberry and winterberry holly are prime examples.”
Scenic Roots co-owner Donna Ross said she has discussions with customers all the time about what constitutes a truly native plant.
“Proven winners will have cultivars, which are a cultivated variety of a native species,” she said. “A cultivar plant is still going to do well. The pollinators will recognize it as long as its characteristics are close to the straight species.”
Gardeners often shun native species because they are “common,” Ms. Fernari said. “Oak trees are common. Wild cherry/choke cherry trees are common; the birds plant them. People don’t give them consideration.”
One of Ms. Fornari’s favorite talking points is the importance of preserving mature oak trees on Cape Cod: “People cut them down without blinking an eye. They don’t realize that oak trees and choke cherries sustain more species of wildlife than any other plant.”
“Choke cherries are beautiful; they grow in funky shapes that have character. People love the birds, but they don’t make the connection between the songbirds that they are loving and the native plants that support them. They don’t make the connection between leaving a dead tree for the woodpeckers to feast on for bugs, with the fact that they like to see woodpeckers.”
The native American holly is another “great native tree” that doesn’t get much respect, Ms. Fornari said. “It is more a tree than a bush so it is more open and not a heavy presence in the landscape. They grow in sun or shade and the birds love the berries. The robins come down from Canada and get drunk on the berries, like teenagers on spring break,” she said.
Gardeners are increasingly aware of the benefits of planting for diversity, Ms. Fornari said.
“Diversity has everything to recommend it,” she said. “Sure, mix in some non-natives, but mix in natives as well. Have a range of plants that bloom at different times. If an insect or disease comes along that attacks one thing, you don’t lose everything. We need a range of diverse plants on our properties and we need to be smart about using our resources.”
Ms. Fornari does not believe that gardens should be planted with only native plants or that cultivars are bad. “I think that Mother Nature makes new native plants all the time as they self-hybridize. You can see that in our junipers, how they vary so much in their appearance because they have been naturally hybridized,” she said.
Ms. Ross agrees. “It doesn’t have to be all native plants or nothing; do the best with what is available to you,” she said.
Conserving water is going to be a greater and ongoing concern on Cape Cod, Ms. Fornari said. “We all live on a sandbar here and we’re drawing from the same aquafer. More and more, gardens will need to be designed so that plants that need watering are grouped together.”
She named the goldenrod and the aster plants—often called “keystone plants” because they are so important to wildlife and pollinators and insect populations—as native plants that do well without supplemental water.
“Our native asters and native goldenrods are very important for insect populations and therefore very important for songbirds,” she said.
Yucca is a native plant. ‘They are evergreen and very sculptural, and there are variegated varieties to buy,” Ms. Fornari said. “Anybody who likes succulents will like yuccas because they have that succulent look.
At the top of her driveway by the road—an area referred to by horticulturists as the “hell strip” because it is usually dry and not irrigated, with heat coming off the road and traffic driving by—Ms. Fornari has planted a “dry garden” with yucca, asters, the native perennial baptisia, spreading coriopsis, some junipers and ninebark physocarpus, which are all drought-tolerant plants.
“I water that area once a month in a drought, so three times a summer, and the plants do very well,” she said. “The birds love the seeds.”
Ms. Ross said that over the last three years, through (and perhaps as a result of) the COVID-19 pandemic, the garden center has seen a “huge push” in customers wanting to plant native species and to plant for pollinators.
“People are learning more about their (natural) environments, learning more about what they put on their lawns and the food they put into their mouths. There is a huge push for ‘sustainability,’ for connecting with nature and trying to do right by their yards and gardens,” she said. “People are trying to plant for the environment to make the world better.”
We should look for a good mixture of trees, shrubs and perennials, Ms. Archer said. “Pollinators need continuous bloom. We want to choose plants for early spring bloom all the way through fall. Something should always be blooming in our yards.”
“People plant for Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, and through summer, which leaves out the early spring and later fall,” Ms. Ross said. “There is always a season missing.”
“You can have flowers blooming 12 months of the year on the Cape,” Ms. Fornari said. “There is a plant in bloom in my landscape every month of the year. Right now, there are hellebores blooming and witch hazel is in bloom—they are not native plants, but they are winter-blooming. The pussy willows have been in bloom. We have both native and nonnative pussy willows on the Cape.”
This winter, Scenic Roots is working with the Sandwich Garden Club to create a committee to promote and educate the public about the grass roots “pollinator pathway” movement started in Wilton, Connecticut (www.pollinator-pathway.org).
The website describes this pathway as “Public and private pesticide-free corridors of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinating insects and birds. Even the smallest green spaces, like flower boxes and curb strips, can be part of the pathway.”
The overall goal for Ms. Ross here in Sandwich, she said, would be to have the entire seven-mile Sandwich corridor of Route 6A connected through a pollinator pathway.
“The movement asks participants to plant a few native species. Maybe three, for example. It does not ask gardeners to stop using lawn care products and pesticides; rather, it asks people to look at them differently and to minimize the usage, opting for a more-integrated pest management approach.
“We are hoping to start putting information out by April to let people know what it is and how they can register their gardens and support it,” she said.
For gardeners who have questions about what to plant when, Ms. Ross recommends that they come in to the garden center to see what is blooming.
On a cold, gray, dead-of-winter kind of day in February, renowned gardening expert, author, speaker and radio host C.L. Fornari stood in her backyard on the Upper Cape cradling a small branch of one of her favorite medium-sized trees, the sweetbay magnolia (magnolia virginiana).
“This is an interesting native tree because it is semi-evergreen. It holds its leaves for a long time into the winter,” Ms. Fornari said.
When the leaves of this magnolia finally fall off the tree long after other trees have gone bare, the silver underside of the leaves provides visual interest as they are blown around on the ground. “This native tree should be planted more often on the Cape,” she said.
“For so long, the exotic plants have been viewed as more sexy—those pink bubblegum kwanzan cherry trees and blue ball hydrangeas, for example—they’re flashy. People are attracted to the shiny things, the showy things,” she said. “Unfortunately, natives are not given the respect that they deserve and need.”
An awareness of the value of using native plants in gardens and landscapes is gradually increasing as the benefits of doing so are more commonly understood.
An Audubon Society website states that restoring native plant habitat is “vital” to preserving biodiversity, and lists compelling reasons to plant native species in yards and gardens.
Once established, Audubon says, native plants generally require little maintenance, thereby drastically reducing the use of the artificial fertilizers and synthetic chemical pesticides commonly used on lawns and bark-mulched landscapes.
Native plants, especially long-living trees like oaks and maples, are effective at storing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which helps the earth’s climate, the site states.
Because native plants have adapted to local environmental conditions, they require far less water—a boon for drought-stricken areas.
Native plants provide vital habitat for birds and other wildlife species. Butterflies and moths are all dependent upon very specific native plant species, Audubon says. “Native plants provide nectar for pollinators including hummingbirds, native bees, butterflies, moths, and bats. They provide shelter for many mammals. The native nuts, seeds, and fruits produced by these plants offer essential foods for all forms of wildlife,” the site states.
Native plant species and co-existing wildlife are those which have evolved to their local conditions and climate without human intervention over thousands of years.
“The definition of a true native (in North America) is something that was here before the settlers arrived,” Lori A. Archer, resident native plant expert at Scenic Roots Garden Center on Route 6A in Sandwich, said during a recent interview.
“The benefits of gardening with native plants is to create habitats for wildlife, insects and pollinators,” she said. “Many true native plants, such as the scrub pine and scrub oaks, are a huge pollinator source of food. They flower in the spring and have bugs on them for the birds to eat.”
“If you look in your yard, chances are you already have some native plants,” she said. “Inkberry and winterberry holly are prime examples.”
Scenic Roots co-owner Donna Ross said she has discussions with customers all the time about what constitutes a truly native plant.
“Proven winners will have cultivars, which are a cultivated variety of a native species,” she said. “A cultivar plant is still going to do well. The pollinators will recognize it as long as its characteristics are close to the straight species.”
Gardeners often shun native species because they are “common,” Ms. Fernari said. “Oak trees are common. Wild cherry/choke cherry trees are common; the birds plant them. People don’t give them consideration.”
One of Ms. Fornari’s favorite talking points is the importance of preserving mature oak trees on Cape Cod: “People cut them down without blinking an eye. They don’t realize that oak trees and choke cherries sustain more species of wildlife than any other plant.”
“Choke cherries are beautiful; they grow in funky shapes that have character. People love the birds, but they don’t make the connection between the songbirds that they are loving and the native plants that support them. They don’t make the connection between leaving a dead tree for the woodpeckers to feast on for bugs, with the fact that they like to see woodpeckers.”
The native American holly is another “great native tree” that doesn’t get much respect, Ms. Fornari said. “It is more a tree than a bush so it is more open and not a heavy presence in the landscape. They grow in sun or shade and the birds love the berries. The robins come down from Canada and get drunk on the berries, like teenagers on spring break,” she said.
Gardeners are increasingly aware of the benefits of planting for diversity, Ms. Fornari said.
“Diversity has everything to recommend it,” she said. “Sure, mix in some non-natives, but mix in natives as well. Have a range of plants that bloom at different times. If an insect or disease comes along that attacks one thing, you don’t lose everything. We need a range of diverse plants on our properties and we need to be smart about using our resources.”
Ms. Fornari does not believe that gardens should be planted with only native plants or that cultivars are bad. “I think that Mother Nature makes new native plants all the time as they self-hybridize. You can see that in our junipers, how they vary so much in their appearance because they have been naturally hybridized,” she said.
Ms. Ross agrees. “It doesn’t have to be all native plants or nothing; do the best with what is available to you,” she said.
Conserving water is going to be a greater and ongoing concern on Cape Cod, Ms. Fornari said. “We all live on a sandbar here and we’re drawing from the same aquafer. More and more, gardens will need to be designed so that plants that need watering are grouped together.”
She named the goldenrod and the aster plants—often called “keystone plants” because they are so important to wildlife and pollinators and insect populations—as native plants that do well without supplemental water.
“Our native asters and native goldenrods are very important for insect populations and therefore very important for songbirds,” she said.
Yucca is a native plant. ‘They are evergreen and very sculptural, and there are variegated varieties to buy,” Ms. Fornari said. “Anybody who likes succulents will like yuccas because they have that succulent look.
At the top of her driveway by the road—an area referred to by horticulturists as the “hell strip” because it is usually dry and not irrigated, with heat coming off the road and traffic driving by—Ms. Fornari has planted a “dry garden” with yucca, asters, the native perennial baptisia, spreading coriopsis, some junipers and ninebark physocarpus, which are all drought-tolerant plants.
“I water that area once a month in a drought, so three times a summer, and the plants do very well,” she said. “The birds love the seeds.”
Ms. Ross said that over the last three years, through (and perhaps as a result of) the COVID-19 pandemic, the garden center has seen a “huge push” in customers wanting to plant native species and to plant for pollinators.
“People are learning more about their (natural) environments, learning more about what they put on their lawns and the food they put into their mouths. There is a huge push for ‘sustainability,’ for connecting with nature and trying to do right by their yards and gardens,” she said. “People are trying to plant for the environment to make the world better.”
We should look for a good mixture of trees, shrubs and perennials, Ms. Archer said. “Pollinators need continuous bloom. We want to choose plants for early spring bloom all the way through fall. Something should always be blooming in our yards.”
“People plant for Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, and through summer, which leaves out the early spring and later fall,” Ms. Ross said. “There is always a season missing.”
“You can have flowers blooming 12 months of the year on the Cape,” Ms. Fornari said. “There is a plant in bloom in my landscape every month of the year. Right now, there are hellebores blooming and witch hazel is in bloom—they are not native plants, but they are winter-blooming. The pussy willows have been in bloom. We have both native and nonnative pussy willows on the Cape.”
This winter, Scenic Roots is working with the Sandwich Garden Club to create a committee to promote and educate the public about the grass roots “pollinator pathway” movement started in Wilton, Connecticut (www.pollinator-pathway.org).
The website describes this pathway as “Public and private pesticide-free corridors of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinating insects and birds. Even the smallest green spaces, like flower boxes and curb strips, can be part of the pathway.”
The overall goal for Ms. Ross here in Sandwich, she said, would be to have the entire seven-mile Sandwich corridor of Route 6A connected through a pollinator pathway.
“The movement asks participants to plant a few native species. Maybe three, for example. It does not ask gardeners to stop using lawn care products and pesticides; rather, it asks people to look at them differently and to minimize the usage, opting for a more-integrated pest management approach.
“We are hoping to start putting information out by April to let people know what it is and how they can register their gardens and support it,” she said.
For gardeners who have questions about what to plant when, Ms. Ross recommends that they come in to the garden center to see what is blooming.