WILDLIFE NEEDS GARDENERS TO LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE ... DOUG TALLAMY AGREES

BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH

       The world is too much with us; late and soon,

       Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:

       Little we see in Nature that is ours;

       We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

                                              "The World Is Too Much With Us" -  William Wordsworth

It could all be rather discouraging. 

For all the talk about planting more beautiful natives in our landscapes, for all the plant sales and workshops and incredible native bloomers being marketed today, for all the education on how much our local and migrating fauna needs help replacing their habitat we have destroyed with urban sprawl, the vast majority of our suburban yards are full of plants that require too much water and do nothing to help the vital cycles of nature.

Some want to blame nurseries for lack of plant availability. That's not fair. These are businesses and nurserymen have to sell what WE customers will buy.

Others blame HOAs and POAs that promote and insist on Stepford Wives-type front yards with huge expanses of well-mowed, year-round green lawns and mustache landscaping. (a row of low-pruned single-variety shrubs across the front). There's nothing wrong with this style of front row plantings if the plant choices are ecology-friendly, which they usually aren't.

What is truly amazing about gardeners - especially those who see and want to help "the big picture" - is their never-say-die attitude. They just keep plugging away, converting homeowners to more ecology-friendly plants one yard at a time.

One of our most influential events in this arena is the Wildscapes Workshop and Native Plant Sale, sponsored every year by the Native Plant Society of Texas - Houston.  This year's featured speaker, Dr. Doug Tallamy, is author of Bringing Nature Home, among other great books and a nationally-recognized, much honored leader in the efforts to help homeowners view their landscapes as  integral, extremely influential components in the natural world - whether they like it or not.

I asked Doug for his take on these efforts of our more-ecology-conscious gardeners. Love his response:

"Environmentally destructive status symbols, such as huge lawns, were once the norm in this country, but are now being replaced by good land stewardship. We are finally recognizing that humans are part of nature and to survive in the long run, we must live with nature. 

"We all rely totally on natural systems to support us, and to adopt widespread landscape practices that destroy these systems is beyond shortsighted.  We have co-opted 95% of the lower 48 for our own uses, so for nature to survive, we must start to share our spaces, particularly where live and work. It's easy, it's enormously rewarding, and it's the future. 

Status quo landscaping comprised of little beyond turf grass and Asian ornamentals can no longer be the norm, just as thirsty lawns are now a thing of the past in the southwest. Native-dominated landscapes need not be wild, or messy, or less attractive. Formality is a design issue, not a feature of particular plant species. We have the knowledge to produce productive, beautiful, living landscapes, and the only thing holding us back is the fear of change."

Doug also gave me the go-ahead to use a section from his book, Bringing Nature Home, in our Spotlight on Visiting Experts below. You can hear more from him personally Sat., Sept. 13, seminar, 8:30am-3:30pm, at the Houston Zoo's Brown Educational Center, 6200 Hermann Park Dr. Details: npsot.org/wp/houston/wildscapes-workshop

Doug's Houston talk,  "Why We Need More Natives in Our Garden" is part of the annual Wildscapes Workshop and Plant Sale. Also on the seminar ($40) agenda are David Renninger on Urban Prairies and Perspectives, Glenn Olsen on Plants for Wildscapes Landscapes (featuring plants available at the accompanying plant sale), Katy Emde on Appreciating Insects and Matt Buckingham on Attracting Reptiles. 

The plant sale (which is always one of the best ever in this area) is open to Seminar attendees only from 11:45am-3:30pm. Doors will be open to the public 1-3:30pm. Details on the sale and seminar are available at www.npsot.org/houston, 832-859-9252 or trisheratops@aol.com. Check website for additional activities.

BONSAI - A CHANCE TO LEARN FROM EXPERTS 

Ever been fascinated by bonsai at a plant show or nursery? You should be. Chances are you've already been beguiled by this ancient art form's subliminal relationship to harmony, honor and patience. 

Bonsai beautifully executed are relaxing, respectful, symbolic of balance between nature and man. Who among us could not use more inner peace vibes to help cope with daily life? The historic fascinating art of bonsai will be in the spotlight Sat., Aug. 30, at the 5th anniversary open house of Timeless Trees Bonsai Nursery, 2707, Rosenberg. Extraordinary examples of this unique horticultural art form will be discussed and on display during the Bonsai Iron Chief ficus styling competition. 

Guest artist Jason Schley of Florida will be carving a Giant Podocarpus all day long. Other demos include 10am-deadwood creation & preservation; 11am-cypress carving, 1pm-Shohin; 2pm-tool sharpening and 3pm-Portulacaria. Details: http://www.timeless-trees.com/ 

 "We have planted Kousa dogwood (left), a species from China that supports no insect herbivores, instead of our native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida, second from left)) that supports 117 species of moths and butterflies alone ... we have planted golden raintrees (right) from China instead of one of our beautiful oaks and lost the chance to grow 532 species of caterpillars, all of them nutritious bird food." Center: "Bringing Nature Home" by Doug Tallamy.

 "Removing insects from an ecosystem spells its doom..." 

by Dr. Doug Tallamy 

Excerpted from "Bringing Nature Home" 

http://www.bringingnaturehome.net/gardening-for-life.html 

What will it take to give our local animals what they need to survive and reproduce on our properties? NATIVE PLANTS, and lots of them. This is a scientific fact deduced from thousands of studies about how energy moves through food webs. 

All animals get their energy directly from plants, or by eating something that has already eaten a plant. The group of animals most responsible for passing energy from plants to the animals that can't eat plants is insects. This is what makes insects such vital components of healthy ecosystems. So many animals depend on insects for food (e.g., spiders, reptiles and amphibians, rodents, 96% of all terrestrial birds) that removing insects from an ecosystem spells its doom. But that is exactly what we have tried to do in our suburban landscapes. For over a century we have favored ornamental landscape plants from China and Europe over those that evolved right here. If all plants were created equal, that would be fine. But every plant species protects its leaves with a species-specific mixture of nasty chemicals. 

 With few exceptions, only insect species that have shared a long evolutionary history with a particular plant lineage have developed the physiological adaptations required to digest the chemicals in their host's leaves. They have specialized over time to eat only the plants sharing those particular chemicals. 

 When we present insects from Pennsylvania with plants that evolved on another continent, chances are those insects will be unable to eat them. We used to think this was good. Kill all insects before they eat our plants! But an insect that cannot eat part of a leaf cannot fulfill its role in the food web. 

 We have planted Kousa dogwood, a species from China that supports no insect herbivores, instead of our native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) that supports 117 species of moths and butterflies alone. In hundreds of thousands of acres we have planted goldenraintree from China instead of one of our beautiful oaks and lost the chance to grow 532 species of caterpillars, all of them nutritious bird food. My research has shown that alien ornamentals support 29 times less biodiversity than do native ornamentals.

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR!! Sat., Oct. 11: 5TH Annual JANE LONG FESTIVAL, Fort Travis Seashore Park, Bolivar Peninsula, Tx. Details: www.janelongfestival.org. For a free info kit, email lazygardener@sbcglobal.net 

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 Brenda's group lectures include: "How to Reduce the Size of Your Front Lawn to Save Water Without Infuriating Your Neighbors," "Landscaping for Security," "10 Commandments of Lazy Gardening," and "What's Blooming in the Lazy Gardener's Garden." Details: lazygardener@sbcglobal.net
 

JOHN'S CORNER

MULCH CORNER - Toxic Mulch Syndrome Part 3

It appears that the issue of toxic (sour) mulch has reappeared. This past weekend I heard Randy Lemon of Garden Line fame talking about sour mulches. I have talked with a couple new customers over the last few days that have had plants dying that appear to be from the toxic mulch (cheap) they used, and a colleague (a professional landscaper) e-mailed me about plants dying from toxic mulch.  

Last year we discussed this issue in length and the articles can be found on our website and in the archive of back newsletters. This past week I read a new study published last year by the Woods End Laboratories on "Killer Mulches" that has found another mechanism for creating toxic mulch.

The researchers at Woods End found 37,000 ppm of formic acid amongst other acids! Formic acid is one of the most plant-toxic forms of organic acids. This type of acid is produced during the conditions of pyrolysis (similar to making biochar).

Mulch producers create very large piles of raw woody mulch often over 20 feet tall (I have seen 50 foot tall piles in driving around Houston at some mulch producers).

These piles become wet in some areas of the pile (wetting from summer downpours) which allows microbes to start the decomposition process releasing large amount of heat. The pile becomes very hot and the oxygen is quickly used up, allowing some pyrolysis to occur inside the pile.

These conditions for partial pyrolysis allow pyruvic acid found in wood to be split into formic acid in addition to methanol and acetic acid. Methanol is an alcohol and it only takes a few parts per million (ppm) to kill a plants roots, and acetic acid is essentially vinegar (often used as a herbicide). Hence the mulch was extremely toxic to plants.

The researchers found that even the vapors coming off the mulch caused extreme foliage damage. They diluted the mulch 100:1 and it was still inhibited the growth of plants.  The mulch was so acidic (pH = 2.2) that even microbes could not live in it, hence it was not being biodegraded.

The question my colleague had was, " How can one area of a garden be affected and another are not affected?"

There are a couple possible reasons: 1) First when a dump truck is being loaded,  large front end loaders are used that can easily hold 5 cubic yards in one scoop of mulch. The first scoop will come from the outside of the pile which has a lot more aeration (less problems) while the second scoop comes from deep inside the pile where it is hotter an no oxygen (lots of problems).  When the material is dumped much of the toxic material is still together and when applied it would go into one area of the garden and the less affected mulch applied in another area.

2) It is possible that after the toxic mulch was applied the sprinklers were turned on and some of the toxic chemicals were diluted and washed away before it had a chance to damage plants.

So why do mulch producers stack mulch into large piles? You probably guessed the answer "It is cheaper".  Land around Houston is expensive and one can store several times as much mulch in the same space by piling it higher. If a consumer sees very tall piles (over 10 feet) of mulch at a vendors location it is an indicator that they do not care about the customer. Just like the vendors that sell dyed mulch they do not care about the customer and only want your money.

As the old gardening proverb states:

I have no quarrel with a man whom has a lower price, whom better knows what his product is really worth.

Another way that mulch can become toxic is by the landscaper themselves. Often landscapers will fill their trailer (metal sides) with mulch and cover with a plastic tarp. If it is allowed to sit for a couple days (over a weekend or a couple days of rainy weather) the microbes will quickly use up all the dissolved oxygen. The mulch will become anaerobic and the microbes start producing acids, alcohols and other toxic compounds that contaminate the mulch. Then when it is applied it will stunt or even kill the plants.