Urban Natives

[Robert Wildey (NC)]

"Hoopla?"

I certainly hope not.  While in principle I do not necessarily stand for 
government regulation of private action, the "Wetlands act 
amendments of three years ago" have hopefully begun a return to more 
thoughtful consideration of ecosystem management - which is essentially 
what is being practiced on roadsides, lawns, parks, etc.  Dedicating 
vast areas of land to plantings whose biodiversity reflects that of the 
garden center at Home Depot or Kmart is counter-productive when we are 
attempting to create, restore, or maintain habitat areas for species we 
claim to value - whether it be spiderwort or the florida panther.  Time 
and again, species brought in as landscape ornamentals become escaped 
exotics and, as Richard notes, become expensive management headaches.  
And why?  The standard response is that "natives aren't showy enough."  
That may be true to a point, in the wild, under competitive conditions, 
perhaps not.  But under the highly managed regime which landscape 
plants exist - irrigated, fertilized, and pruned to perfection, I would 
venture that there are many more species which are prime candidates for 
landscape material.  And the recurrent pest and water problems which the 
less-invasive exotics have to be pampered through are the 
naturally-evolved conditions for native spp.
	As far as wildlife is concerned, most exotics have little to 
offer - berrys that ripen at the wrong time or are poisonous, shading out 
of necessary species, and perhaps in a less quantitative sense, further 
estrangement from a landscape now dominated by humans. The list goes on.
	Somewhere along the line we've forgotten some of the basic 
principles of landscape design - consideration of native species "where 
available" is, I hope, a step towards revisiting thoughtfulness in 
design.  An example I recently witnessed concerned a hedge at a 
marina/shopping area here in Sarasota.  When the complex was constructed, 
they planted an Australian pine hedge (Casuarina equisetifolia) which was 
growing quite well - trimmed regularly, it forms a dense, evergreen hedge 
with little to no other maintenance.  As it is on the hot list of exotics 
- being quite invasive and forming monocultures in beach dune areas 
(while growing quite tall and providing much shade, it does little to 
hold sand) -  the marina properly removed it last year.  Cause for 
celebration?  Not quite, as they promptly replaced it with Oleander 
(Nerium oleander) which, although it has attractive flowers with 
varieties of nearly all colors, is extremely toxic if ingested and 
frequently subject to infestations by caterpillars.  How much 
consideration to the safety and maintenance issues was given when that 
occurred?  Probably not too much.  And they will probably go years before 
a little kid takes to eating the leaves or someone suffers a toxic 
reaction to the oils...so no harm done.  Well, no good either.  It could 
have been 900 sq ft of coastal upland habitat (a premium category in this 
part of Florida) but instead is a nearly useless dead zone.
	Thank you for the opportunity to sound off; don't take me for a 
fascist - it is heartening to see and smell roses and jasmine, and I know 
many food crops which are not from 'round here - nevertheless, I see much 
room for improvement, and large, public projects are as good a place to 
start as any.


Robert Wildey [New College/University of South Florida - Sarasota]
wildey at virtu.sar.usf.edu



What's a native?  Any plant there before the first botanist started looking.
(Thanks to Dr.John Morrill)