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Earth friendly gardening in the Kootenays region of British Columbia, Canada |
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Sustaining connection between people and plants |
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| Do not travel thousands of miles to see a saved nature
in Costa Rica or other similar lands. Save your own nature right where
you are. Ecology starts at home. - Robert Muller |
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Native Plants and Mushrooms growing
on my property |
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There are many native plants
growing on my property here in the Kootenays. I am happy to have
them and encourage them to grow and spread. For me beauty
lies in diversity.
First of all,
grasses.
The restoration of common,
humble native grasses is my foremost goal here. From my observation, those grasses are disappearing with great speed, replaced by the most
desirable for conventional lawns,
robust foreign varieties with creeping roots, capable to spread and
multiply without setting seed. They often manage to escape, though. If not mowed, they grow to became
most ugly and untidy, and they are taking over. Only most robust weeds
can grow in their company. Together they create very sad and ugly
unnatural "ecosystems", posing a serious threat
to biodiversity, supporting pests and draining nutrients from the
soil. They further contribute to the loss of native varieties through
hybridization.
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This was originally the situation at my place, too.
Slowly, I managed to restore more
delicate native vegetation.
Some grasses that I managed to restore don't have ability to spread
by stolons or by rhizomes, they need to
bloom and set seed, otherwise they would disappear. They will not
survive in a frequently mowed lawn. They look beautiful though
when allowed to mature, and the area, undisturbed by mowing,
supports a very healthy insect population. I don't complain on the
lack of pollinators for my garden. I allow Red Clover and other not
invasive plants to grow together with the grass. I mow my grass once
a year, in late summer. I mow more often only a small part of the
lawn because I need clippings for a mulch.
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Fruiting native shrubs with edible
berries
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Besides the grasses and native to this area trees
like Pines and Firs I have growing here many native ornamental shrubs
and perennials, as well as mushrooms. My native plants not only provide
seeds and berries for birds and other wildlife. They also support a
variety of insects, many of them beneficial, that protect my garden
from pests and are a source
of protein for other life forms. During the summer months most of smaller wild birds live almost
entirely on insects and their larvae. They also feed their young on insect food.
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Oregon Grape (Mahonia) |
Utah Honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis) |
Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia)
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I believe what grows on my property is a cross between Tall Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)
and Creeping Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens). Both species cross-breed
easily. My plants are taller than the creeping varieties but have a
creeping habit, without being invasive, though. They are evergreen,
or rather I would say ever-leaved, since in fall the leaves change colour to reds and bronzes. The
shrubs bloom
in May. The bright yellow flowers of a size and shape of the
Lily-of-the-valley grow in clusters. The fruit is small, dark purple.
It ripens in August. Sometimes I use the berries to make jam. They
have distinct flavour, but are rather too seedy. The plants like my
dry, acidic soil. |
Although I have seen a lot of Oregon Grape growing in the area, I
have never seen another Utah Honeysuckle. My plant is small,
about 60 cm (2 ft.) tall and looking very delicate, as if
lacking something needed for more robust growth. Probably the
soil here is too dry for its liking. I will put a good layer of mulch around
it this year to protect the soil from drying too quickly. Hope it will
help. My Utah Honeysuckle blooms in May, fruit is ripe in about two months, in
July. I like the shape and colour of the berries. They are
juicy and edible. They grow in pairs, hence the common name Red
Twinberry. |
Probably everybody knows this one. Yes, it
is a native plant here. I have quite a few bushes of Saskatoons.
They are not fussy regarding the soil and water supply and are
quite happy growing in the ash-dry, sandy soil on the NW facing slope, where they have cool feet and lots of
sun at the top. They could probably do a little bit better if
they had more moisture there, though. Butterflies love their
flowers and birds never leave any berries for the winter. I
harvest them occasionally, too. Deer has no contempt for the
leaves and young shoots, either. So there is something for all
of us. I like the plants the most when
early in May they completely smother themselves in flowers. |
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Mushrooms |
On the pictures below you see beautiful 'flowers', or 'fruits', of
wild mushrooms. Mushrooms are living organisms that are
neither plants, nor animals. They belong to a separate kingdom of Fungi. Most of the growth of a fungus
happens underground. What is visible above the soil surface is only
the fruiting part of it, whose function is to produce and disperse
spores.
Most of those 'fruits' are edible, but same
are not. Many are poisonous, though only small number are deadly. I
eat my mushrooms, of course, they are delicious, but only when I am
absolutely sure they are good. Otherwise I feed only my eyes with
the view of those interesting life forms that are becoming, in the
world increasingly filled with plastic, more and more unfamiliar to
many people. |
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| Probably
Tricholoma sp. Growing in early
October close to Pine trees. I wasn't
going to eat them and didn't bother to find out exactly what they
were. |
Lactarius
sanguifluus. Also growing in early fall, close to Fir trees.
Absolutely delicious when fried in butter and served on a slice of my
favourite sourdough bread. |
Probably
Agrocybe praecox
growing in June on my ornamental bed, close to Juniper.
Probably edible, but I didn't try them without first making absolutely
sure what they really are. |
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Scented native plants |
Unlike conventional plants, that are more and
more often devoid of scent, native plants (and heirlooms, too) still
have this amazing ability to fill the air with the sweet aroma. Like
with everything in the natural world, it is on purpose. Through its
scent the plant lets know
associated with it insects that the flowers are open and the time of feast has come.
I love scented plants. Scent is as
important to me as are shapes and colours of the flowers. I inhale the scents deeply and
feel refreshed and rejuvenated, like after taking the best medicine
in the world. For me it is a true aroma therapy. |
Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) |
Dogbane is sometimes considered a
weed. I have never seen any bigger infestations of the plants,
though, and
they are not invasive. I welcome them on my property. They like my
dry, coarse
soil. They grow always in the same spot without trying to spread or
take over. I love their delicate pink flowers. When in bloom,
in July, they fill the air with a sweet, fresh aroma.
I inhale the scent, but, since Dogbane is poisonous, I avoid touching the plants.
As it is with many poisonous plants, Dogbane is used for a
variety of medicinal purposes. Snowbrush is doing well
on my
property, too. It likes coarse
soil. It also fixes its own nitrogen, so the deficiency of nitrogen in my
soil doesn't bother it. It does better with a little water I try to
give it from time to time. The plants are evergreen. At the end of May
and early in June they develop panicles of tiny white flowers with a lovely,
strong, honey-sweet scent, very attractive to beneficial insects. |
Snowbrush (Ceanothus velutinus) |
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I will be adding more pictures later |
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