Turning Over a New Leaf
Making a Colorful Difference, One Plant at a Time
Caring about the environment and “trying to save the world” can be a little exhausting and overwhelming sometimes! Global warming, rainforest destruction, and dying coral reefs – it’s enough to make you throw the television out the window and trash your newspaper, or at least toss it angrily into the recycle bin. It is of course important to stay on top of those issues and do what you can to affect change. However, it’s also important to find ways to stay sane and have fun! So here’s an easy, colorful, butterfly-filled, song-bird savvy, flower-laden way to help the planet without having an aneurism or battling capitalism.
We’re going to give you a regional list of shade-tolerant, drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, ground-covers that happen to be gorgeous native plants great for shady corners that usually get stuck with plants like English Ivy and Pachysandra. And they’ll attract songbirds and butterflies to boot! But first, a little on why this is important and how it will change the world, or at least your neighborhood.
You probably all know that English Ivy can get out of control and overwhelm other plants. Just like Snakehead Fish, Norway Rats, Japanese Beetles, and House Sparrows, English Ivy is an invasive exotic with very few predators or diseases in this country to keep it in balance. It grows out of control, covering ferns, wildflowers, mushrooms, herbs and even tree seedlings, thus removing essential food sources for birds and other wildlife while decreasing biodiversity. In addition, it has almost zero wildlife value. There are no native butterfly or moth caterpillars that feed on its leaves, few insects nectar from its flowers and the fruits are low-quality and largely ignored by both resident and migratory birds.
So why are ivy and other relatively boring and invasive plants (Climbing Euonymus, Periwinkle, Pachysandra, etc.) used constantly in suburban landscapes? Simple, they are super easy to grow and take care of. No one plants English Ivy to hurt the planet or starve wildlife. We do it because it works and it’s easy – totally understandable. Well, what if I told you there were options; a list of colorful, shade-loving, drought-tolerant plants that can hold the role of ivy and pachysandra. Best of all, they do so while providing a vital food source to native wildlife in an area with depleted natural resources. And for all you gardeners out there, these plants “play well with others”, i.e. co-exist with your other garden plants rather than overwhelming them. Fear not! Such a list exists and as ASNV members you will be the first to see it! More importantly, you get to spread it around TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. Share it with your neighbors, home owner associations, landscape companies, office parks, nurseries and garden centers, schools and churches, local parks departments and anyone else who might be tempted to use any of the invasive exotic plants listed above.
Use these plants and the shady, tough-to-plant corners in your neighborhood will be filled with bird and butterfly food, not to mention ten times more color and texture than ivy!
Shade-tolerant Native Ground-Covers for Northern Virginia
(For detailed species info. and additional plants, visit our website, www.audubonva.org and click on “Audubon At Home”)
Birds and butterflies look for clumps and masses of the same plant – it offers a better chance of finding fruit and nectar. To make plantings useful for them, use at least 7 individuals of whatever species you choose, more if possible. Rather than a demonstration garden planting, choose 3 to 5 species and plant large masses of each.
WILDFLOWERS: a great way to attract native pollinators and the birds that feed on them – plant a wildflower and build a food web!
SEDGES: excellent seed source for finches, native sparrows and other birds, also essential food for over a dozen butterfly larvae – plant lots of Carex!
FERNS: wonderful forage, shelter and nesting material for wrens, thrushes, chickadees, woodland warblers and many other small birds
VINES: excellent food source for hummingbirds, butterflies and migrating songbirds
*Even drought-tolerant plants need water to get established. Be sure to water all these plants for the first year *
Here are a few nurseries that can help bring these plants into your community:
Now picture every patch of English Ivy you’ve ever seen in Northern Virginia - keep your eyes peeled the next time you’re driving to work. Imagine each of those ivy tangles replaced with mosaics of native Green and Gold, Creeping Mint, Coral Honeysuckle, Carex and Passionflower. Imagine the birds, butterflies and bumble bees that feed on them hovering and foraging in those shady corners. Imagine the increased biodiversity, color and well-fed wildlife you’ve just created by yanking a vine and planting a patch of native flora. Now THAT’S making a difference, and you didn’t have to buy a hybrid, boycott fast food or march on Washington to make it happen… not that you shouldn’t being doing all those things as well.