A Nurseryman's Perspective
The following was in response to an article on native plants sent to Gene Sumi, gardening educator for Homestead Gardens, for comment. Introductory pleasantries deleted.
I am glad that the article pointed out that many plants with "japonica" in their botanical nomenclature grow well in our neck of the woods because these plants may have been common here, but were lost during the glacial ice age that affected North America. Something to think about.
From a nurseryman's view of the native plant issue, there are several important points-of-view. First, we stock plants that we can sell. If the customer is not interested in a great plant, no matter how positive we may feel about it, we will likely not stock it. You alluded to it when you used the Japanese Pachysandra as a preferred variety over our native Allegheny Spurge. The marketplace determines so much of what we make available to the public.
Many native plant advocacy groups do not consider cultivars of natives to fall into the native plant category. A native plant genus and species name does not qualify it as a "native" if there is a hybrid or cultivar name attached. We welcome these improved varieties because they are preferred by our customers. But many lists exclude them because only "pure bloods" are accepted and "stepchildren" are not allowed. We nursery people are so irritated at government agencies that compose their "accepted" native lists from lists they get from the academics, not checking with our industry to see if these plants are actually cultivated and stocked by the marketplace. Sometimes half of the recommended lists include plants that may be not be available at all or available only from specialized native plant growers, not the local nursery.
The article is right about some natives looking "weedy" once they leave the natural setting and are introduced to the cultivated landscape. A case in point is Prunus seritoma, our common Black Cherry. A very important source of food for many types of wildlife and important as a fine wood for furniture. I have been to homes to identify this tree and found it to have an unruly appearance, with leaves covered with fungal spots and many dead and deformed secondary branches. It would not win any prizes in a home garden, but perfectly acceptable in a natural setting.
Lastly, using natives requires an acceptance of what they are. When I go fly fishing in the woods of Western Maryland, I see native Mountain Laurels flowering in the deep woods. They are beautiful. However, most of the examples I see do not have any foliage at the bottom and the foliage they do have is often covered by a leaf spot fungus. Not pretty at home, but acceptable in the woods. It may be oversimplification on my part to say that it is like the country cousin visiting his sophisticated cousins in the city. He stands out, but not always in a complementary way. Nothing wrong, but not quite right. I believe that natives are not misbehaving, they are doing what comes naturally and won't change with a change of setting.
Gene Sumi grew up in a family of professional gardeners. Since retiring from government work, Gene's worked at Behnke's Nursery and currently Homestead Gardens to educate gardening customers.