Tag: native plants

Melanthium virginicum (Bunchflower)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org a blog about sustainable living. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

In this post I present a rare flowering plant of ephemeral beauty, that will reward your patience with a few weeks of enchanting blooms: Melanthium virginicum (bunchflower).

Bunchflower prefers rain gardens and moist conditions

Quick facts:

  • Zones:5-9
  • Bloom time: Summer (June-July)
  • Sun: Full, partial
  • Soil Moisture: Medium, Wet
  • Aggressive: No
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: about 5 feet
  • Status: Endangered in Illinois and several other states
  • Maintenance: LOW
  • Wildlife value: Medium

Wildlife connection: This plant attracts many small insects, including small flies, and small beetles. The plant is toxic to mammals.

It is hard to imagine that something of such a beauty can be at risk of extinction, but in fact this plant went from being threatened to endangered in the past five years. Melanthium virginicum is a slow growing plant, it will require patience, and occasional discouragement but it will come through providing an exceptional addition to the garden.

I planted eight bare roots in early spring about seven years ago. I still remember watching the light green leaves sprout in spring to quickly wilt and disappear by end of summer. The next spring they came back, briefly and again became brown and disappeared. I thought the experiment had failed, but then I saw them coming back and becoming more visible and persistent year after year. It took about six years to get the first plant to bloom. This year almost all the plants bloomed in mid July!

The plants develop with leaves at the base that look like those of lilies. Through the years the leaves become more abundant.

The leaves are at their best in early summer and become yellow in late summer

Flowers start out greenish early in the season and expand in summer with each plant developing one large bloom composed of small white flowers. Planting at least six or seven plants will provide a better effect than having just one.

Planting six or seven plants provides a nice full bloom

Melanthium virginicum loves to be in a rain garden or an area where water accumulates and quickly is absorbed in the ground. For this reason it goes very well with the Queen of the prairie (Filipendula rubra) another threatened wetland species that I’ll describe in a future post.

Bunchflower (in the foreground) and queen of the prairie (in the background) make a great white/pink mix of unusual blooms in early summer.

Although the bloom doesn’t last for too long, the plant still adds interest to the garden with its green seed pods that persist until early September.

After bloom is over the plant still looks interesting.

If you are a patient gardener and have a section in your yard that you are considering for a rain garden Melanthium virginicum makes a fantastic addition together with the Queen of the prairie and, for example, some ornamental grasses that help water soak underground. You will also sustain biodiversity by planting a species that is on the brink of disappearing. You can’t go wrong!

Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

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Geranium Maculatum (Wild geranium)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org a blog about individual climate action. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

In this post I’ll talk about a spring perennial that is very easy to grow: Geranium Maculatum (Wild geranium).

Quick facts:

  • Zones:3-8
  • Bloom time: Spring (April-June)
  • Sun: Part shade to sun
  • Soil Moisture: Medium
  • Aggressive: Moderate
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: 10”-12”
  • Status: OK
  • Maintenance: LOW
  • Wildlife value: High

Wildlife connection: The flowers attract many types of bees, bumblebees, flies, and butterflies. The leaves are also attractive to many insects that use them for their larvae. The caterpillars of several moths feed on the plant. The foliage and seeds provide food for small animals including chipmunks.

I just realized that is already time to start planning for spring planting. For this reason this week I’ll present this very easy plant that can be started from seeds. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the plant is adaptable and easy to grow. Like all early blooming flowers wild geranium is very important for bees and other insects during a time when there aren’t too many other flowers around.

Wild geranium forms a thick ground cover in early spring

You have probably seen this plant in wooded areas at some forest preserve, however it does quite well also in full sun. In the garden it spreads readily, forming a thick ground cover. The flowers last from May to June and the leaves persist through the summer and change color to a dark purple in fall. I let the plant spread freely because it is actually a great ground cover that doesn’t allow weeds to take over the mulched areas. It took me a while to realize this fact, but now I have decided to harness the power of fast spreading native ground covers into a weed control mechanism. I’ll talk more about this in a future post.

The nice thing about wild geranium is that after the bloom is over it tolerates the tall prairie plants around it and therefore can be planted in the same place as taller summer blooming plants.

Wild geranium can be planted together with Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) that blooms at about the same time.

I started my geraniums from seeds but also planted a few small plants. Both methods were successful. Of course seeds allow to cover more but they take at least one extra season to fully develop. For this reason a mixed approach worked best for me. If you have the planting area ready, now is a good time to sow the seeds outside as soon as the snow has melted as they require about two months of cold to germinate.

The pink bloom of Geranium Maculatum lasts for more than a month

If you have an area in your yard where you have room for a ground cover, geranium maculatum is a great choice, especially if you are new to native gardening, I hope you will consider it, and please look for the full botanical name (geranium maculatum) before purchasing to avoid cultivars.

The YouChoose App provides several links to resources to get you started with sustainable gardening. It also provides links to native plants in specific regions. You can download it from Google Play or through the link on the right. Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids.

Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

If you liked this post please share it!

Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohosh)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org where we explore ways of living sustainably. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

In this post I’ll talk about a mystical flowering plant of striking beauty that I recently planted in my garden: Cimicifuga Racemosa (Black cohosh).

Black cohosh grows in rich soil possibly in shade or part shade

Quick facts:

  • Zones:4-8
  • Bloom time: Summer (June-September)
  • Sun: Shade to part shade
  • Soil Moisture: Medium, Wet
  • Aggressive: No
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: 5-7 feet
  • Status: At risk in most native areas. Rare and endangered in Illinois and Massachusetts
  • Maintenance: LOW
  • Wildlife value: Medium-High

Wildlife connection: This plant attracts many small insects, including small flies, bees, and bumblebees. It is also the host plant for the Appalachian Azure butterfly caterpillars.

Sometime we feel it is hard to grow anything of value in the shaded areas of our yard. In the front of my house there is just such a space where sunshine is limited. The traditional suburban gardening solution for those “unwanted” areas is to plant hostas. I used to think along those lines and that is why it took me so long to come up with a planting strategy for the front. I now have learned that there are magnificent native plants for shade and regret not having more shaded areas. This past spring while looking for shade loving ideas I came across this marvelous perennial.

Although black cohosh is not common here and the region where I live is at the western far end of the native range, I couldn’t resist planting one next to the front door. In Illinois black cohosh is rare and listed as endangered. The plant is more common on the Appalachian Mountains where it is harvested for its medicinal properties and generally classified as at risk. Sometime I look at it and imagine how beautiful this plant must look in its native environment.

Because of its slow growth it is not recommended to start from seeds, therefore I planted a mid size plant (about 1 foot) in spring. Black cohosh loves a rich soil typical of the deciduous woodlands of which is native, it also needs space because, if everything goes well, should reach 6-7 feet in height. So far it seems happy where I planted it. The plant develops with a base of broad leaves of an intense green.

The leaves of black cohosh are large and of an intense green. They form a large base at the bottom of the plant.

The leaves cover the base of the plant giving it a nice full appearance. From the base spikes of white small flowers stand up. The small flowers open up to create a feather like appearance of the spikes. The plant bloomed in summer and it grew quickly about one foot. The full bloom started at the beginning of August and it lasted until September.

Early bloom of young black cohosh

If you have a shaded area in your yard that you wish to fill up with a spectacular and unusual plant black cohosh is an option. A few things to keep in mind are the following:

  • Make sure you have room. If everything goes well the plant should grow to a large size.
  • Please make sure you purchase from a reputable source. The population of this plant is in rapid decline everywhere and the species is generally considered at risk. Major threats come from excessive harvesting for its medicinal use and loss of habitat due to deforestation and development. I purchased mine from a conservation society which has the conservation of species at heart and doesn’t harvest plants from the wild.

Because this is one of the latest additions to my garden I’ll report more here once the plant grows to its final size, hopefully it’ll be good news.

The YouChoose App provides several links to resources to get you started with sustainable gardening. It also provides links to native plants in specific regions. You can download it from Google Play or through the link on the right. Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids and look out for the full botanical name to avoid cultivars.

Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

If you liked this post please share it!

A satellite view of deforestation

Welcome to YouChoose, a blog where we explore ways of living sustainably. I am sharing here a recent article that appeared in the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society newsletter. You can view the the article by copying and pasting the link below in your browser.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148781/smoky-skies-in-the-western-amazon

The article shows a satellite view of deforestation in South America linked to clearing for cattle and soy plantations (for feeding cattle). From the satellites it is also possible to follow the evolution in time of the rate of deforestation.

In North America environmental destruction is also causing large scale decline in biodiversity and extinction of species due to pesticides used in large scale farming. Below here is an interesting article from the BBC about California’s endangered butterflies and what we can do.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211013-the-race-to-save-californias-endangered-butterflies

I hope you enjoy the readings!

The YouChoose app provides several links and information on global food issues and lists of sustainable and unsustainable foods including fish and vegetables, hopefully the information is useful to get started.

In this blog there is a recipe section where I share meat-free recipes to help out. If you want to share your sustainable recipes to help others, I’ll be glad to post them in this blog.

Do you want to share your progress on eliminating meat from your diet? Send me an email at info@choosesustainable.org and I’ll add it to this blog.

Sanguisorba Canadensis (Canadian Burnet)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org where we explore ways of living sustainably. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

This past week the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared 22 species (including several birds) extinct. Among the reasons for extinction loss of habitat is the most important. Essentially we cut down the forests that sustained some of these species. Loss of habitat however is also due to agriculture and suburban development. The sad news reminded me of the importance to restore native habitat in our backyard. It is too late to save the species that have disappeared, but is not too late to save those that are still surviving. In this post I’ll talk about a native plant that is fighting for survival and that could disappear before most of us even know of its existence: Sanguisorba Canadensis (Canadian Burnet).

Canadian burnet is listed as threatened or endangered in several states

Quick facts:

  • Zones:4-8
  • Bloom time: Spring (Aug-Oct)
  • Sun: Sunny to part sunny
  • Soil Moisture: Medium wet, wet
  • Aggressive: NO
  • Front yard: YES but it grows tall
  • Height: 5’
  • Status: Threatened, Rare, or Endangered in most of its original habitat including Illinois
  • Maintenance: NONE
  • Wildlife value: Medium

Wildlife connection: This plant is one of the last fall blooming plants. It attracts bees, bumblebees and small insects when the other fall plants are done. Besides its wildlife value the plant has value for biodiversity.

One section of my backyard presents a slope that, being of course covered with lawn, caused storm water to runoff and accumulate at the bottom, creating a flooded area with standing water that lasted for few days after heavy rain. For this reason I decided to create a planting area where the water accumulated. One of the plants I chose for this area was the Canadian Burnet. I planted three bare roots and watched them grow into three marvelous plants in about 3-4 seasons.

The plants grew quite large, more than I expected, reaching a height of about 5′, they emerge in early spring with a nice foliage and fully develop by summer.

At the end of August the plant is ready to bloom

Around the end of August the flowers are ready to bloom. Full bloom is in September and lasts until mid October if the weather is favorable. The leaves are quite large and the flowers have a feather-like appearance.

A leaf of the Canadian burnet

The plant is happy in medium wet soil, however, once established, it can sustain long droughts. If you have a section of the yard that gets good rainwater it is a good place for this plant. The plant is beautiful, however if it rains a lot it can fall over due its large size and it may be necessary to provide support to keep it up.

The white feather-like appearance of the flower. In early fall the flower attracts the last bees and bumblebees looking for nectar.

Given its size and unusual appearance, the plant can be used as a focal point for the fall garden. It doesn’t fail to catch the attention. The white bloom goes very well with the purple and yellow colors that dominate the season.

The Canadian burnet goes very well with goldenrod, asters and other late blooming plants.

In conclusion, if you live in the native range of the Canadian burnet and you have room for it, you should consider it as a fantastic addition to your backyard.

Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids and look out for the full botanical name to avoid cultivars.

The YouChoose App provides several links to resources to get you started with sustainable gardening. It also provides links to native plants in specific regions. You can download it from Google Play or through the link on the right. Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

If you liked this post please share it!

Zizia Aurea (Golden Alexander)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org where we explore ways of living sustainably. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

In this post I’ll talk about a native flowering plant of the carrot family: Zizia Aurea (Golden Alexander).

Golden Alexander tolerates dry soil and spreads quickly

Quick facts:

  • Zones:3-8
  • Bloom time: Spring (April-June)
  • Sun: Sunny to part sunny
  • Soil Moisture: Medium, Dry
  • Aggressive: YES
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: 3’
  • Status: OK
  • Maintenance: MEDIUM (It spreads aggressively and may need deadheading)
  • Wildlife value: High

Wildlife connection: This plant attracts many insects, including small flies, bees, and bumblebees. It is also the host plant for a few varieties of the swallowtail butterflies and some varieties of moths.

I planted a few small golden alexanders some years ago in a dry patch of my backyard mostly hoping to attract the black swallowtail. My efforts have been rewarded as shown in the picture below.

The caterpillar of a black swallowtail feeds on golden alexander

The plants grew very quickly and took over the area that was assigned to them. In addition they appear to expand aggressively through reseeding, for this reason some effort to keep them in check is required.

The green leaves emerge in early spring and by mid-May the plant is in full bloom providing early food to many insects. The yellow flowers are fairly large and even from far away the plant has a nice full appearance. After the bloom is over the leaves last through the summer. I usually cut them back in late summer if they grow too much.

Flowers of golden alexander

If you have a rough patch in your yard that you want to fill up quickly this plant is a good choice. It may be possible to grow it from seeds, although I never tried. The plant is hardy, we have been in a drought for 2 years and it seems to do just fine. Because golden alexander is quite aggressive, I suggest to provide it with its own space. Additionally, one can deadhead the flowers before seeds are released .

Golden alexander attracts black swallowtail butterflies

Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids and look out for the full botanical name to avoid cultivars.

Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

If you liked this post please share it!

Amelanchier Arborea (Downy Serviceberry)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org where we explore ways of living sustainably. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

In this post I’ll talk about a small tree I planted in my yard a few years ago: Amelanchier Arborea (Downy Serviceberry).

Quick facts:

  • Zones:4-9
  • Bloom time: Early spring (March-May)
  • Sun: Sunny area to shade
  • Soil Moisture: Medium, Wet
  • Aggressive: NO
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: (15-25’) But it can vary
  • Status: OK
  • Maintenance: NONE
  • Wildlife value: High

Wildlife connection: The trunk, flowers, leaves, and fruits of this plant are very important for wildlife. Serviceberry is the host plant to caterpillars of several butterflies and moths. Several other insects use this plant for their larvae. The flowers attract bees, honeybees, and other early insects and the berries are food to birds and small mammals.

I planted a very small serviceberry tree in my backyard several years ago. Not being very familiar with the plant I placed it in a location where it was unhappy. Thinking in retrospect, the soil was probably too dry. Although the plant is tolerant of a wide range of soil moisture it prefers moist and well drained soil.

After waiting for a few seasons I decided to transplant it to a different location. Since then the tree has been growing better and this year it bloomed for the first time.

If you are looking for a small tree, Serviceberry is a very good choice. Its size makes it suitable for small yards but it can be a nice decorative addition to a big yard as well. It provides early spring flowers, fruits, and foliage color in fall and it seems fairly low maintenance. The spring flowers are particularly important for early bees, when other flowers are still not available.

Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids and look out for the full botanical name to avoid cultivars. Contact me for suggestions on where to buy.

Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

Viola Sororia (Common Violet)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org where we explore ways of living sustainably. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

In this post I’ll talk about a spring flower that comes up in my backyard: Viola Sororia (Common violet).

Quick facts:

  • Zones:3-9
  • Bloom time: Early spring (March-May)
  • Sun: Sunny area to shade
  • Soil Moisture: Medium, Dry
  • Aggressive: YES (but keep in mind it is a 3 inch plant)
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: (3-4’’)
  • Status: OK
  • Maintenance: NONE
  • Wildlife value: High

Wildlife connection: Viola sororia is the host plant of several marvelous butterflies whose populations have been declining. The caterpillars of at least five different  Fritillary butterflies feed on the foliage, the seeds are attractive to ants. Several birds and small mammals eat the seeds and occasionally the leaves of this plants. Read more at https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/fritillary.shtml

I wasn’t really thinking of writing this post until last week when I was placing an order to purchase a few violets for the front yard and did a quick internet search on common violet. I was surprised and saddened to read the conversations about this little plant and felt that it deserves better than the constant disdain it gets. The discussions around this flower usually include terminology such as weed, extirpate, smother, eradicate and similar. One is even warned not be fooled by its innocent look! I quickly realized I was dealing with the public enemy #1 of the gardening world.

Apparently the unforgivable crime of this tiny warrior is that it refuses to die and go extinct like so many other less resilient native plants. In some posts the plant is tagged as an invasive! However if we look at the definition of invasive plants from the USDA we find that an “invasive species” is defined as a species that is:

  1. Non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration; and,
  2. Whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Our little viola sororia is a native plant, which means it was here before we Europeans even arrived, and it doesn’t cause any harm to anybody. It is actually an edible and medicinal plant. In addition, as the host plant of several butterflies, is beneficial to the environment. By this definition we humans are a more invasive species than the viola sororia!

In fact the gentle violet has been gracing our landscapes for thousand of years. Known in ancient Greece as ion, the violet was borne from an act of kindness of our Mother Earth (the goddess Gaia) to feed Io, a young girl turned into a cow by the always vengeful Greek gods. It speaks a lot of our gardening habits the fact that a gift from our Earth, a symbol of  love and gentleness has become the object of so much hatred.

I welcome violets in my yard wherever they come up, usually in patches here, there, and everywhere. Hopefully this short post will inspire others to see violets in a different light, to see that they have an important purpose and perhaps to stop and think before removing them. By letting this ancient flower thrive in your yard you will be feeding small herbivores and birds, and you will be sustaining a declining population of butterflies. If you think your efforts won’t make a difference think again. For the first time this past summer I was able to snap a picture of a Fritillary in my backyard.

Welcome back dear violets, resist, I am glad you haven’t become another casualty of our suburban gardening.

Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids and look out for the full botanical name to avoid cultivars. Contact me for suggestions on where to buy.

Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org

Pulsatilla Patens (Eastern Pasqueflower)

Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org where we explore ways of living sustainably. Spring is here and I would like to share my first gardening post. This is the first short post in which I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity.

More on this later, now I want to talk about one of the first spring flower that come up in my backyard: Pulsatilla Patens (Eastern Pasqueflower).

Quick facts:

  • Zones:3-6
  • Bloom time: Early spring (April)
  • Sun: Sunny area or partial shade
  • Soil Moisture: Medium, Dry
  • Aggressive: NO
  • Front yard: YES
  • Height: (3-4’’)
  • Status: OK
  • Maintenance: NONE
  • Wildlife value: High

Every spring around March, after I do the spring cutting of the tall prairie plants, I anxiously await the first signs of spring in the garden. By the end of March as soon as the snow clears, I search for my beloved Pasqueflowers and feel very happy when I see them coming back, among the first to announce the arrival of spring. Pulsatilla Patens is one of the spring ephemerals. For many suburban inhabitants of the Midwest gardening season starts at the end of May, on Memorial Day, however for native gardeners the season starts much earlier, at the beginning of March. Spring ephemeral for all their understated and brief beauty play a very important role in sustaining the ecosystem and I encourage everybody to plant large amounts of these perennials. I have neglected spring ephemeral in my garden but am planning to substantially increase their number this year.

Of course, one may say we have plenty of early bloomers, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips, but none of them serves the important task that the native early spring flowers accomplish, which is to provide food to the first insects that come out of hibernation. Last year I planted a bunch more and I am hoping to see them come back this year.  This little flower makes a great addition to the front yard, it is very well behaved, doesn’t spread (I wish it did) and will also go very well in the mulched area under trees.

If you plant this little jewel in your yard, you’ll see early bees flocking to it when everything else is still dormant. Please make sure to purchase native flowers from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids and look out for the full botanical name to avoid cultivars. Contact me for suggestions on where to buy.