Grow Wild
Native Maine plants liven up landscapes that have grown a little too tame.
Claire Ackroyd is smitten with Maine's native flora — not exactly what you'd expect from an English horticulturalist. A landscape and garden designer based in Orono, Ackroyd often uses native plants in her designs. She says those who equate "native" with "boring" have it all wrong.
"You're not giving up something beautiful because you're working with native plants," says Ackroyd, who designs gardens in Maine and elsewhere around the country. "I mean, what is more fabulous than jack-in-the-pulpit? It's a totally whacked-out, amazing, exotic-looking thing, but we think it's ordinary because we see it all the time.Indeed. Gardeners in balmier zones lust after many of the wildflowers and native plants that flourish in Maine's cool woods and thin, acidic soils. From carpets of bunchberries popping with cream-colored blossoms to stands of rhodora illuminating the swamps in a purple haze, Maine's native plants put on a dazzling show. And the good news is that you needn't — and shouldn't — go digging them up in the woods. Indigenous flora is becoming more available in local nurseries, making it easier than ever to enjoy Maine's handsome and hardy natives in your own backyard.
No one's knocking delphiniums or peonies, but going a little wild makes a lot of sense, says Lois Berg Stack, ornamental horticulture specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. "Native plants are a big part of what makes Maine look like Maine," Stack says. Think paper birches shining against dark stands of spruce and fir, delicate blossoms of bloodroot heralding spring, and blueberry barrens glowing red in the fall.
Natives aren't just great looking, they're also practical. They need little care once established, and they provide food and cover for wildlife. Native flora offer attractive solutions for common landscaping problems including poor soil, wet areas, erosion control. They also create a transitional zone between yard and forest.
Steve Jones, who runs Fieldstone Gardens in Vassalboro, prizes native sweet fern (not a fern at all, but Comptonia peregrina) for controlling erosion in harsh, windy environments, like lakefront property.
"Blueberry growers can't believe I have sweet fern, because it's a weed on the barren," Jones says, laughing.
Using indigenous plants can also help create a more cohesive landscape, says Stack, who has planted many natives on her four acres of yard, hayfield, and forest near Bangor. "I use the theme of native plants as a filtering device to help me narrow down my choices and unify my landscape," she says.
Before you dash to the nursery, though, it's best to check out your habitat and decide on landscaping priorities, Stack says. "Thinking about the conditions you have to offer each plant and what you want the plants to do for you leads to the best choices," she says. In other words, follow the classic rule of choosing the right plants for the right place.
Once you've gotten the lay of the land, pick up a field guide and explore the wild plants that grow on your land or in a nearby preserve or state park. Observing which plants grow together will yield clues to help you structure plantings. A great guide is the University of Maine's "Gardening to Conserve Maine's Native Landscape," which lists dozens of native plants with their growing requirements and landscaping uses.
Despite Maine's abundance of intriguing native plants, Ackroyd says many people still overlook them. She says it's time to "recalibrate our aesthetic sense" to recognize the riches that surround us. "When I go back to England, I see people desperately trying to grow bunchberry in Shropshire," she says. "My sister is clearing out old roses to make room for American wildflowers, and people in Maine are bulldozing their bunchberry so they can plant roses! We all need to take another look and realize that the flora we live with is beautiful."
Ackroyd does see a shift starting to happen. With a bit of prompting, more of Ackroyd's clients are using native plants in their landscapes. "It's not just the lunatic fringe," Ackroyd says. She jokingly fantasizes about a horticulture graduate student writing a term paper fifty years from now about a new "Maine landscaping school that emerged at the turn of the century."
Perhaps the most important reason to go a little wild in our backyards and landscapes is the future. "We all love this state for many reasons, but one thing on everyone's list is the naturalness of Maine," Stack says. She points out that one way to help protect the state's natural beauty is to use native plants in our private and shared landscapes whenever possible. "We're in a position to keep Maine looking like Maine," Stack says. "Our decisions now will determine what this place looks like in a hundred years."
"You're not giving up something beautiful because you're working with native plants," says Ackroyd, who designs gardens in Maine and elsewhere around the country. "I mean, what is more fabulous than jack-in-the-pulpit? It's a totally whacked-out, amazing, exotic-looking thing, but we think it's ordinary because we see it all the time.Indeed. Gardeners in balmier zones lust after many of the wildflowers and native plants that flourish in Maine's cool woods and thin, acidic soils. From carpets of bunchberries popping with cream-colored blossoms to stands of rhodora illuminating the swamps in a purple haze, Maine's native plants put on a dazzling show. And the good news is that you needn't — and shouldn't — go digging them up in the woods. Indigenous flora is becoming more available in local nurseries, making it easier than ever to enjoy Maine's handsome and hardy natives in your own backyard.
No one's knocking delphiniums or peonies, but going a little wild makes a lot of sense, says Lois Berg Stack, ornamental horticulture specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. "Native plants are a big part of what makes Maine look like Maine," Stack says. Think paper birches shining against dark stands of spruce and fir, delicate blossoms of bloodroot heralding spring, and blueberry barrens glowing red in the fall.
Natives aren't just great looking, they're also practical. They need little care once established, and they provide food and cover for wildlife. Native flora offer attractive solutions for common landscaping problems including poor soil, wet areas, erosion control. They also create a transitional zone between yard and forest.
Steve Jones, who runs Fieldstone Gardens in Vassalboro, prizes native sweet fern (not a fern at all, but Comptonia peregrina) for controlling erosion in harsh, windy environments, like lakefront property.
"Blueberry growers can't believe I have sweet fern, because it's a weed on the barren," Jones says, laughing.
Using indigenous plants can also help create a more cohesive landscape, says Stack, who has planted many natives on her four acres of yard, hayfield, and forest near Bangor. "I use the theme of native plants as a filtering device to help me narrow down my choices and unify my landscape," she says.
Before you dash to the nursery, though, it's best to check out your habitat and decide on landscaping priorities, Stack says. "Thinking about the conditions you have to offer each plant and what you want the plants to do for you leads to the best choices," she says. In other words, follow the classic rule of choosing the right plants for the right place.
Once you've gotten the lay of the land, pick up a field guide and explore the wild plants that grow on your land or in a nearby preserve or state park. Observing which plants grow together will yield clues to help you structure plantings. A great guide is the University of Maine's "Gardening to Conserve Maine's Native Landscape," which lists dozens of native plants with their growing requirements and landscaping uses.
Despite Maine's abundance of intriguing native plants, Ackroyd says many people still overlook them. She says it's time to "recalibrate our aesthetic sense" to recognize the riches that surround us. "When I go back to England, I see people desperately trying to grow bunchberry in Shropshire," she says. "My sister is clearing out old roses to make room for American wildflowers, and people in Maine are bulldozing their bunchberry so they can plant roses! We all need to take another look and realize that the flora we live with is beautiful."
Ackroyd does see a shift starting to happen. With a bit of prompting, more of Ackroyd's clients are using native plants in their landscapes. "It's not just the lunatic fringe," Ackroyd says. She jokingly fantasizes about a horticulture graduate student writing a term paper fifty years from now about a new "Maine landscaping school that emerged at the turn of the century."
Perhaps the most important reason to go a little wild in our backyards and landscapes is the future. "We all love this state for many reasons, but one thing on everyone's list is the naturalness of Maine," Stack says. She points out that one way to help protect the state's natural beauty is to use native plants in our private and shared landscapes whenever possible. "We're in a position to keep Maine looking like Maine," Stack says. "Our decisions now will determine what this place looks like in a hundred years."
- By: Kim Ridley
