Bringing natives home

These trees are truly spectacular during the early evening winter sunsets as they glow against the darker conifers like spruce and fir. Next spring their new needles, in soft shades of green, will be just as noticeable.

Hackmatacks, known as Larix laricina or tamaracks, are a good example of what we gardeners should be trying to incorporate into our landscapes. In the past decade, there is a new appreciation for the planting of natural species.

For years I’ve listened to horticultural friends, those who have far more experience in using native plants than I expound on the benefits of including these highly versatile and beautifully adapted plants on our properties. Some of these varieties include: blueberries for their white-bell shaped blossoms in spring, the fruit (of course) in summer, and stunning crimson foliage in the fall.

The amelanchier or serviceberry, is also known as shadbush or wild-plum. It is covered with showy white flowers before its leaves even appear. The flower nectar attracts butterflies and in late summer, very flavorful, purple-black, berrylike fruits attract songbirds. The berries can be used in jams, jellies and pies. The colorful fall foliage is a blend of orange, gold, red and green.

Another native that we Nova Scotians simply take for granted is the wild, spring-blooming rhodora - which belongs to the same genera as the nursery grown rhododendrons that we shell out $40 to $100 for.

A strong advocate of naturalistic plantings described to me last weekend how this common roadside shrub can be transplanted and improved upon.

“Usually people see it all scraggly,” he said. “What you do is remove the weeds, all the competition, because it’s etiolating, trying to find the sun. Then you cut it back and fertilize it and you get a dynamite plant.”

Viburnum cassinoides is called witherod because the stems were used to make fish baskets. The large flat trusses of creamy white flowers are undeniably attractive but it is the fruit that is the most ornamental aspect of this species. It changes from green to pink, then red through blue, and finally reaches dark purple in the fall. The shrub often has fruits at different stages of ripeness with the color variations present at the same time, which makes an interesting contrast.

Many of these plants can now be found in local nurseries in the spring, which gives you time to start thinking about where they would be best planted on your property.