tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8497277770771473008.post5804899845978815688..comments2024-03-15T01:29:50.279-07:00Comments on Town Mouse and Country Mouse: Why Plant Local Natives?Town Mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09777461911856383480noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8497277770771473008.post-55133885776648828502016-06-25T10:39:54.656-07:002016-06-25T10:39:54.656-07:00Hi Katie, and thanks in turn for your thoughtful c...Hi Katie, and thanks in turn for your thoughtful comment. Horticultural use of natives bothers me too. Tallamy notwithstanding - for the reasons you mention. For wildlife value in suburbs I think cultivars etc are OK, but where natural populations are nearby it's a problem. I used to proselytize locally - now I don't. I'm happy when my neighbors have Australian plants around their house because they 're at least not bringing in non-local natives that might hybridize with the locals. I may be overly puritanical about that. When I bring in a native I check that it won't do that. I've removed some mistakes made earlier in my time here. There hasn't been enough study done on what plants will or won't hybridize, so we're working without hard data. I love your site and hour thoughtful posts!Country Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13294472166693008328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8497277770771473008.post-29247425472950633082016-06-25T09:17:25.832-07:002016-06-25T09:17:25.832-07:00Thanks for this thoughtful post. My irk is when f...Thanks for this thoughtful post. My irk is when folks sell "native" plants, that may have been collected here, exported to the UK or elsewhere (even a couple hundred miles up and down CA), bred with who knows what, then returned here in marketing/PR packages, e.g. the now-common CA garden poppy and blue bush lupine that the City of Monterey wholeheartedly spread around a couple years ago - the plants look nothing like the natives and I suspect they have a completely different genetics that won't work w/ native insects. This year, I've also seen hybrids of the rare local Clarkia in gardens around town. Ugh. I believe, in our efforts to help, we're actually do much more damage to the survival of real, local, native ecosystems.Katie (Nature ID)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17730655720390625839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8497277770771473008.post-35418602205577920422016-06-24T15:46:04.691-07:002016-06-24T15:46:04.691-07:00Interesting, possibility, Diana - all the interrel...Interesting, possibility, Diana - all the interrelationships between plants mediated by the fungus or chemicals in the air etc that we're learning about these days. Totally fascinating.Country Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13294472166693008328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8497277770771473008.post-77834439488121558012016-06-24T13:09:34.978-07:002016-06-24T13:09:34.978-07:00that about local fungi on the roots - perhaps expl...that about local fungi on the roots - perhaps explains why proteas and ericas, our fynbos plants - can be really tricky to grow in a garden. Just quietly turn brown, and fade away, sadly.Diana Studerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12286066768376135880noreply@blogger.com