Native Horticulture Design and Installation

Native Plant of the Month:
Spring is fast approaching and many woodland perennials are starting to poke through the leaf litter. In my backyard, I have some Trillium cuneatum, Toadshade Trilliums (Photo 1), emerging for the 3rd year in a row since being relocated from a property in Jackson county where a house was being built. There are 22 different species of Trilliums in Georgia, and several are protected due to habitat loss. Finding Trilliums in the wild is an indication of a healthy and relatively undisturbed woodland ecosystem.

Check out this article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/home--garden/trilliums-the-floral-stars-early-spring-georgia-woodlands/vKVKOaVH1SZb6YAGpSGyGO/

Trilliums: The floral stars of early spring in Georgia’s woodlands

Naturalized vs. Invasive
Native species are encouraged because they generally have adapted to their environment, finding and filling niche roles in the ecosystem, thus creating balance in the ecosystem in which they inhabit. This balance is not always maintained peacefully and harmoniously, predators kill and consume prey, animals consume and destroy plants, plants grow to exhaust available resources, but the cycle continues and balance is restored. Human interference often disrupts the natural balance by removing species and introducing others. These introduced species will persist if there is a role to fill, and often the newly introduced species becomes very successful inhabiting a new ecosystem and proliferating into the wild, becoming part of the natural ecosystem. These naturalized species have adapted to their environment and have now become "native". The term "invasive" implies that this proliferation has a negative impact on the balance of an ecosystem. The introduction of Pueraria montana, AKA Kudzu, is a great example of a naturalized plant becoming invasive, covering everything in its path, with no natural balance on population growth. On the other hand, a native species like Smilax lanceolate, Catbrier or Jackson vine, can become totally invasive in disturbed habitats, completely choking out the understory of a deciduous forest. Point being, introduced plants that have naturalized to fill a void in an ecosystem can contribute to the balance, and therefore should not be considered "invasive" only because they have been introduced. Photo #1 is Iris domestica, Blackberry lily, originally from China, but naturalized in the U.S. centuries ago. Photo #2 is Baccharis halimifolia, Groundseltree, a native to the U.S., but can be invasive in pastures and disturbed areas.