Lyn Chimera of Lessons from Nature presentation: “Natives for All Year Color”

 

Ever wonder why there is so much emphasis on using native plants in our gardens, community plantings, and other landscaping? Lyn Chimera of Lessons from Nature (https://www.lessonsfromnature.biz/) gave a great presentation as part of our free, monthly speaker series. Lyn explained that native plants require minimal care to survive and are fine in local soil without much supplementation. They also feed & support native wildlife (for example, beneficial insects/pollinators and migrating birds) because they have evolved over time together. Gardeners can use natives in purposeful gardening, so their chosen plants help wildlife. Some natives are great for hosting wildlife (like milkweed, which is the only plant that monarch butterfly larvae can survive on) and others provide food for pollinators or shelter for other critters.

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Planting a series of perineal plants with various bloom times will give you color from early spring through fall. And some have beautiful fall leaf coloring or interesting displays even in winter.

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Lyn recommends the book “Native Plants of the Northeast” by Donald Leopold. It includes native grasses, ferns, flowers, vines and more. It describes how and where each grows, and how to propagate them.

 

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Lyn provided a list of many native plants in our area with their botanical names, grouped by their blooming season. Most do well in partial or dappled sun, and some will also be fine in full sun. They vary in how aggressively they spread and whether they are deer resistant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lyn grows these listed plants in her wooded yard, and has a sale of plants from her collection every spring before Memorial Day weekend. Lyn also partners with Amanda’s Native Garden (https://www.amandasnativeplants.com/) who provides only local varieties and supplies plants for the spring sale too.

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One important question Lyn answered from us was how to tell if a plant at a nursery is a native. She explained that a lot of those available commercially will produce no pollen and not really help pollinators. These have been cultivated from a tissue sample and are not truly native; they have been genetically modified. If you look at the name of any plant on the tag or label, you will usually see two Latin botanical names (an example for coneflower is “echinacea purpurea”). If you see an additional name in English after those two, it is likely a cultivar and not a native. While they are lovely looking and are fine to plant, just be aware they do not have all the benefits of native plants. You can also ask your nursery to stock the “species” and not the “cultivar” of a flower you are interested in.

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We learned so much from Lyn’s presentation, and look forward to hosting her in the future for other informative talks!