By Tom Dayton
The longer days are really evident, now, with the appearance of February and soon the collection of witch hazels (Hamamelis) in the botanical garden will be coming into bloom and lasting at least through mid-April.
Sadly though even with their floriferous display in early spring, few if any customers actually see them in full bloom.
One evergreen that’s quite common is Thuja or arborvitae that when translated into Latin means “tree of life.” Arborvitae was the first North America native to be introduced to Europe as far back as 1536!
Literally, this tree has saved lives as Native Americans showed early explorers how to make a tea that helped them to avoid scurvy on sea voyages. The tea must have contained a significant amount of vitamin C such as citrus. Did you know that years ago, English sailors ate limes which prevented scurvy and thus were called limeys?
Native plants have many advantages over the introduced species to North America in that they are non-invasive, resilient against insect, disease attacks and weather extremes such as alternating years of drought and wet years.
Native plants are naturally favorable to pollinators as there long range of blooming times benefits not only the introduced honey bees but the native ones as well, such as the early foraging mason bee and bumble bees.
Native plants are attractive in the landscape as well, from flowers to colorful fruit that is a favorite of many bird species.
For certain, for all these reasons and more, native plants definitely should be more popular than they are now.