Tips on how to start rewilding your landscape from a native plant gardener.
Written by Jackie Grennon Brooks
I’m restoring my backyard patch by patch. I’m following the Doug Tallamy rule of 70%. He has found that if we can restore our landscapes to 70% native plants, we can pretty much bring back the other native wildlife. I’ve said goodbye to the garlic mustard, am still working on that pesky English Ivy, and am tackling the barberries this spring. I am replacing them with natives.
Through a conversation about wild geraniums at a local farmers market, Mindy Block, who grows and sells native plants for Quality Parks, was questioning just how native her wild geraniums really were (see photos Mindy took below). They were blooming later than Geranium maculatum are “supposed to bloom” and they were producing flowers with a much deeper color than expected.
I told her that the Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) in my garden were the first blooming plants in May, showing a delicate light lavender flower.
I knew my plants were genotypic natives because I got them from the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI). If you get plants labeled native from some big box stores you don’t really know if they are “true” natives, or maybe even more troubling, what they may have been previously “doused with.” But it would be a really sad day if we couldn’t trust LINPI for natives. They’re a pretty serious, high integrity group. I trust that that their seedlings are what they say they are. I gave Mindy LINPI-approved Geranium maculatum plants and, in return, I got from Quality Parks, Hibiscus moscheutos, the stunning Swamp Rose Mallow.
I knew my plants were genotypic natives because I got them from the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI). If you get plants labeled native from some big box stores you don’t really know if they are “true” natives, or maybe even more troubling, what they may have been previously “doused with.” But it would be a really sad day if we couldn’t trust LINPI for natives. They’re a pretty serious, high integrity group. I trust that that their seedlings are what they say they are. I gave Mindy LINPI-approved Geranium maculatum plants and, in return, I got from Quality Parks, Hibiscus moscheutos, the stunning Swamp Rose Mallow.
I gave Mindy LINPI-approved Geranium maculatum plants and, in return, I got from Quality Parks, Hibiscus moscheutos, the stunning Swamp Rose Mallow.
Locally sourced from Nissequogue River.
Hibiscus moscheutos is one of my favorites. Some people think natives are “leggy” and “ugly.” They must not have ever seen Hibiscus moscheutos. I have two plants in the front yard that have been getting bigger and bigger over the past three years. Hummingbirds and Painted Lady butterflies and a host of other wildlife love the plants.
The plants love the wetlands, so I planted a row of thirteen of Mindy’s plants near the water’s edge. They are thriving. I keep the seed pods and stalks intact so that insects can overwinter in and near them. They make for amazing sculptures all winter long.
The plants love the wetlands, so I planted a row of thirteen of Mindy’s plants near the water’s edge. They are thriving. I keep the seed pods and stalks intact so that insects can overwinter in and near them. They make for amazing sculptures all winter long.
The Tallamy research gives me permission to enjoy my vibrant yellow Forsythia that announce the spring season and the royal looking Rhododendrons that end it. I’m keeping the voluptuous hydrangeas that grace the garden in the summer, too. They are the garden’s 30%ers. My local observations support Tallamy’s research. I’m seeing butterflies and birds in numbers I haven’t seen before and insects that I’ve never seen.
And then, there are the deer. Yes, they, too, enjoy the Hibiscus moscheutos. But I have a couple of plants that I guess they don’t notice. I am hoping they don’t notice them again this year.
And then, there are the deer. Yes, they, too, enjoy the Hibiscus moscheutos. But I have a couple of plants that I guess they don’t notice. I am hoping they don’t notice them again this year.
About Jackie
Jackie Grennon Brooks was the Principal Investigator of the Long Island Sound Futures Fund grant, Rain Gardens: Linking Water, Wildlife, and Wisdom. The grant installed three native plant rain gardens at the Port Jefferson Village Hall, Village Center, and Department of Public Works.
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