These leaves were my downfall, almost literally. Photo (c) Talitha Purdy

The American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is “one of the grandest, most majestic of our eastern trees” in the opinion of William Cullina, author of Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. It has smooth gray bark that is perfect for carving names in. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Davy Crockett Daniel Boone carved his name on a beech tree.

We seem to have a lot of beech trees growing on our hillside, but after reading that they “form a tangle of root suckers” (Cullina) I wonder if I really looked, I would see that we actually have a few beech trees with a lot of maturing suckers, forming a grove. Their seeds are called beechnuts, which many different kinds of animals eat, including Homo sapiens, who uses it as a flavoring for chewing gum.

It is easy to recognize beech seedlings in the winter, for they hold onto their leaves until, uh, right about now.

The beech saplings, pictured here in January, still have not dropped their leaves in mid-April. Photo (c) Talitha Purdy

Goldenrod is my enemy

There, I’ve said it. I don’t care if goldenrod is a native plant; it is no longer welcome in my gardens. I tried to be understanding, truly, I did, but it just did not want to play nice with the other plants. It did not want to play at all: total garden bed domination was its only goal. And it just about succeeded:

Give it an inch, it will take the whole bed. About the only plant left standing is phlox--itself a native. August 2006

Several kinds of goldenrod

I should make clear before we go any further that there are many species of goldenrod. I’ve found three growing in my beds, and all three have a reputation for being “aggressively weedy.”

This goldenrod is most prevalent in our area. September 2008

Arrows point to rough-stemmed goldenrod. It has the widest leaves of the common ones. September 2008 (click on image to enlarge)

The very thin leaves give rise to the name grass-leaved goldenrod September 2008

Not all goldenrods are bad

Just because I am ousting some villains, I don’t want you to think all goldenrods are bad. Consider:

• Their pollen is sticky. It does not go airborne. It does not cause hay fever or other sneezing allergies. (You would think after all these years, this myth would have been dispelled. But just in case . . .)
• They have an “important role in native ecosystems as soil stabilizers and sources of food and shelter for wildlife.” (William Cullina)
• Other species are well-behaved. Even Solidago rugosa has a cultivar, ‘Fireworks’ that Allan Armitage calls “an outstanding selection.” Of course, the good goldenrods will probably not just show up in your border. Only the thugs do that.

Pull goldenrod early, and pull it often

True confession: when I said in the beginning that “I tried to be understanding” and tolerate goldenrod in my borders, that was a polite way of saying that I tried to rationalize my failure to weed this bed in a timely manner. I never deliberately planted goldenrod in any of my garden beds. I may have let the first seedling or two grow because I didn’t recognize it as a weed. And once it was blooming, I probably decided it was so pretty, I would pull it later. Before you know it, it had turned into a project that had to wait until I had time.

More than once, I tried to dig it out from amongst the perennials growing here, only to have it come back in the spring from roots I had missed. Then there was the year I started digging out the good plants–the plants I wanted to save–and planting them elsewhere. I finally realized nothing less than a complete renovation of the bed would be sufficient to eradicate the goldenrod.

I finally take back the garden

If you have ever attempted to drive a spade into a thriving bed of goldenrod, you would understand the daunting task I faced. It was so daunting, I didn’t face it for a year or two. (Don’t worry, it was easy enough to find other garden work to do.) In 2005 (yes, this has been an ongoing problem) my husband helped me renovate a three-foot wide section that adjoined the Birthday Garden. I managed to keep that goldenrod-free, which gave me the courage to tackle the rest of the front bed this year.

Follow my progress as I take back my garden bed from the domination of the Solidago species. Each thumbnail can be clicked to view a medium image with text, and can then be clicked again for an even larger view. Use the back button or click on the title to get back to the gallery.

How to succeed with a big weeding project

In the past, trying to accomplish large projects in small increments didn’t work. By the time I was ready for stage 2 of a project, stage 1 had become undone. For example, when I had worked on this bed years ago, the goldenrod had grown back before I could finish weeding the bed thoroughly. So I was really hesitant to tackle this project in stages, but I didn’t have a choice. There just isn’t a way to clear three consecutive days in my calendar, and I don’t think my body could handle that much consecutive wear and tear. I realized I didn’t have anything to lose, because if I “failed” the result wouldn’t be any worse than a goldenrod-infested bed, which I already had. What contributed to my success this time, when I had failed in the past?

• I stopped thinking of it as a do-or-die project. I realized if I could clear another three feet, and keep it clear, that would still be progress.
• On the other hand, I stopped approaching it as an attempt to “save” the bed that had been there, and recognized that I needed to renovate it, that is, start over.
• The weather cooperated. Lots of sunny, dry weather, which discouraged new weeds from sprouting and made the goldenrod easy to remove.
• I worked on it first thing in the morning, when the weather was cool and my energy level was high. This minimized procrastination.
• My kids were older. Babies and toddlers inevitably create the kind of interruptions that can sideline a project.
• Mercifully, no back spasms or other injuries that would sideline me.

Not all of the above are conditions which you control, which is why it is important not to get discouraged if your project isn’t successfully completed the first time you attempt it.

Identify your goldenrods online

I found Walter Muma’s Ontario Wildflowers site to be very helpful for identifying native plants. Not only are several photographs included, but the specific details that distinguish one species from another are listed with as little jargon as possible. I only wish I had discovered his site before my goldenrods had gone over; I might have been able to make a more positive identification of some of them.

Read about garden worthy native plants

The following books will help you learn about native plants. I reviewed them earlier this year.

Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation by Donald Leopold (Timber Press, 2005).

Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada by William Cullina (Houghton Mifflin, 2000).

Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens by Allan Armitage (Timber Press, 2006).

How about you?

Did you ever have a garden bed where one plant took over? How did you tackle that problem? Are there any plants that are currently frustrating you with their aggressive growth? Let us know; perhaps someone else knows how to control it. Or, do you have a favorite, well-behaved native plant that more people should know and grow? Tell us about it in the comments.

In 1878, Sherman Stowell sold to Elizabeth Brockett 30 acres of land which he had earlier purchased from George Jennings. I now live and garden with my family on some of that land, which Jennings or Stowell, or perhaps Ms. Brockett, had cleared of trees to make pasture. The forest is growing back, but it’s not the same forest. For one thing, several invasive plants are now growing here, everything from Rosa multiflora to Lonicera tartarica. And where are the trilliums?

Call me a romantic or call me ecologically correct, but I’d like to restore the native flora to my parcel of land, land that was sown to timothy and grazed by cows. How does one go about such a restoration? For starters, you have to know what plants were originally growing there. I’ve taken an informal survey of our property and catalogued all the natives I’ve found. I mention trilliums because they bloom along the roadside further down our country lane. What will it take to grow them here?

Native Plant Reference Books: Compare and Contrast

I recently read three reference works on native plants, trying to find the answer to that question. For each of them, I looked up all the natives growing on our land in them, and compared it to my own experience of those plants. I also checked to see what they had on trilliums. Here’s what I found.

Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation by Donald Leopold (Timber Press, 2005). Leopold’s book covers all types of plants: ferns, grasses, wildflowers, vines, shrubs, and trees. He has a nice discussion of regional plant communities and makes the distinction between planting native species and re-establishing a natural community. (The latter is a lot more difficult.) He doesn’t cover hybrids but does include selections of species. His plant descriptions stick to the facts and are pretty much devoid of anecdotes. Propagating information is included with each entry. Lists of plants suited for specific conditions and an extensive bibliography are in the back. Of the wildflowers growing on my property, this book was missing four: Anemone virginiana, Adlumia fungosa, Polygala paucifolia, and a Spiranthes species that only showed up once several years ago and I never managed to identify.

Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada, and Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants, both by William Cullina (Houghton Mifflin, 2000 and 2002 respectively). In the wildflower book (reviewed in more detail here), Cullina, like Leopold, has a discussion of plant communities; in both volumes Cullina discusses what he means by ecological gardening. (Cullina purports to cover plants from all of temperate North America, but I can’t evaluate his coverage of the plants of other North American regions, having lived in the Northeast all my life.) He gives the same factual information that Leopold does, but often adds personal observations or anecdotes to his profiles. In addition to brief propagation instructions for each plant, he goes into much greater detail on propagation in the back of both volumes. The back of the wildflower volume has a list of wildflowers for various sites, sources, and native plant societies. The back of the tree, shrub, and vine book has those three lists plus a list of alternatives to invasive plants and a list of public gardens featuring native plants. Two flowers missing: Adlumia fungosa and Polygala paucifolia.

Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens by Allan Armitage (Timber Press, 2006). Armitage includes hybrids, which neither of the other two authors includes, but he is more restrictive in terms of plant type: herbaceous perennial native plants are profiled almost exclusively, with a few annuals and bulbs thrown in. He has the most quotable introduction (“cultivars are the gardeners’ candy store”), but doesn’t discuss habitats at all. To his mind, his book is about growing native plants in gardens, not about restoring habitat. Armitage is chattier than either of the other two authors, and less precise. He will tell you his personal reaction to each plant, but sometimes neglect to give the height and width of it. His back-of-the-book lists include nurseries, plant societies, internet sites, and books, and the requisite plants listed by use. No Eupatorium fistulosum or Polygala paucifolia, but he did have Adlumia and Spiranthes.

None of these authors told me what I really wanted to know about Trillium grandiflorum, which is, what would make it happy enough to reproduce and form colonies? Leopold says moist circumneutral soil, part sun to part shade. Cullina goes a little further and says Sugar Maple-Beech woodlands. Confusingly, in his introduction to the genus he says they like lime, but when profiling the species says it grows in neutral to acidic rich woods. Armitage also recommends lime but is otherwise unhelpful. What I would really like to know is if there are marker plants that would clue me into the best place to plant trilliums. Something along the lines of, “if you see plant x growing in a certain spot, you can be sure trilliums will do well there, too.”

If you could get only one book, I would pick Leopold’s, because it is more focused on our region and profiles all sorts of plants, woody and herbaceous. For a second book, it depends on what your goals are. You are more likely to find the plants Armitage mentions in a garden center; if you are more interested in restoring habitat, or in propagating your own, Cullina’s books would be more helpful. Ideally, of course, you’d have them all.

Other Native Plant Resources

Wildflowers of New York in Color by William K. Chapman, et. al. (1998, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 0-8156-0470-X). Excellent photos, but makes no distinction between natives and exotics.

Weeds of the Northeast by Richard H. Uva et. al. (1997, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8334-4). Believe it or not, some native plants are sometimes considered weeds. Includes photos of seedlings and seeds for the natives it does cover.

The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States by Janine M. Benyus (1989, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0-671-65908-1). A good overview of common habitats, what animals and plants you will find there, and why.

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants (Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide) by C. Colston Burrell (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2006 ISBN 1889538744). A good introduction to many of the showiest and most garden-worthy native plants.

Stewardship Garden published by Janet Allen, founder of the central NY chapter of Wild Ones, a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization. Her website is an excellent site to get started learning to create a habitat that supports native plants and wildlife.

Leopold vs. Cullina in person

On April 1, 2006, I had the opportunity to hear both Don Leopold and Bill Cullina speak at the 12th Annual Gardening Seminar put on jointly by the Men’s Garden Club of Syracuse and Phoenix Flower Farm.

Don Leopold was funny. Bill Cullina was funnier. He started out by saying, “I’ve decided to deviate from my usual program and tell you about the latest in begonia breeding.” You can hear little murmurs going around the room as people say, “Begonias! I paid to hear about native plants.” Then, as the slides and names got ever more outlandish–a spotted begonia labeled Begonia x hybridus ‘Chicken Pox’, others with legitimate and not-so-legitimate sounding names, leading up to a blue “begonia” that looked an awful lot like a Meconopsis to me (but then, I’ve only seen photos of them). Finally, ta-da! April Fools! The audience laughs and applauds with relief. Frankly, I had forgotten what day it was, so he got me pretty good.

Both men knew their subject well, and introduced me to native plants I hadn’t come across before. But Don Leopold, a professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, had an intimate knowledge of Syracuse habitats and plants, especially those that do well on limestone soils. There are some unique wetland habitats in the greater Syracuse region, and Don has studied them extensively. From him I learned that bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia) grows in Clark Reservation, and pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is native west of Rochester.

This article originally appeared in the May 2007 issue of Upstate Gardeners Journal in a slightly different form. Elizabeth Licata’s recent post put me in mind to reprint it. While it does focus on native plants in my area, most of the books mentioned will be helpful to anyone in the Northeast.

If you want to learn more about the plants native to your area, a good place to start would be The New England Wild Flower Society Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada by William Cullina. He has done a good job creating a general reference work that can help both novice and advanced gardeners, whether they are attempting habitat restoration or just looking for plants that will do well in a problem area (too wet, too dry and the like).

Not only does he avoid preaching, but he also recognizes that not all of his readers will care to limit themselves to plants native to their region:

While I encourage you to grow and appreciate the plants of your area, I know that we all as gardeners like to seek out the challenge of something new and different, so whenever possible I have included information to aid you in growing a particular plant outside its native range.

In fact, all the information he provides seems aimed to enable you, the gardener, to successfully grow native wildflowers, no matter what your underlying philosophy. His section on Ecological Gardening could be renamed Sensible Gardening, as it discusses the various conditions necessary for plant life and how to best match plants to the conditions at your site. If you’re completely new to the whole idea of habitat gardening, a map will help you locate your floristic province, which is discussed in the pages following the map.

Then it’s on to the plants. Cullina has limited himself to non-woody perennials that are not grasses, sedges or ferns that were growing in North America before European settlement. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty left. Each genus is given an overview, and he provides hardiness zone, soil type, native range, mature size, and bloom color and time for each species, plus a descriptive write-up on each. These descriptions can be a real treat. Sometimes they are especially apt and picturesque, as with Trout Lilies: “the reflexed tepals have a windswept look, as if being held out the window of a moving automobile.” In other cases they are “trade secrets” that will give you a bit of an edge. In a photo caption for trilliums, Cullina reveals that he helps “them spread by . . . pulling off the calyx [of the ripened fruit] . . . and then pinching and squirting the seeds down into some nearby soil.” If I find any ripened seed pods on my half-dozen trilliums, I will be sure to try this trick. Occasionally the author enlightens you on some head scratching point, such as, “Why don’t my Trout Lilies bloom?” Answer: “It appears that there are two forms of the species, one reproducing mostly vegetatively to form carpets of single leaves and seldom flowering, the other forming fewer stolons, emerging later and producing large, paired leaves and flowers.” Mystery solved. One thing I should point out is that this book is not a field guide. It doesn’t tell you how to distinguish between Aster cordifolius and A. divaricatus, for example, though it tells you how to grow both. You’ll need a bona fide field guide for that.

As if this weren’t enough, Cullina provides an extensive guide to propagating these native plants, including both general methods and specific information by genus. Some plants are easy, but others are not for the faint of heart. Take, for instance, all those plants whose seeds require Germination Method D: “seed needs a period of warm moist stratification followed by cold stratification and will germinate after shifting back to warm.” You not only have to be a disciplined and patient gardener to persevere with such seed germinating, you have to have a place where you can keep the seed pot for all that time without it being tipped over or the label misplaced.

But wait–there’s still more! The Appendix has a dozen lists to help you locate plants for specialized needs: for woodlands, for meadows, for dry shade, for butterflies, and the like. Then there’s a comprehensive list of sources for all these plants, and a directory of native plant societies.

If you could have only one book on native plants, this might be your best choice. But I hope you’re not limited to one book, because there is, after all, Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants–Cullina’s other book on this topic.
William Cullina will be speaking at Going Native, the 12th Annual Spring Gardening Seminar of The Men’s Garden Club of Syracuse, co-sponsored by Phoenix Flower Farm/PFF Landscaping, on April 1, 2006 at the Craftsman Inn in Fayetteville, NY. Please call (315) 451-2964 or 428-9401 to check for ticket availability.