Summertime, and it’s the 4th of July! American Independence Day!
We love celebrating the Stars & Stripes — flying the flag, draping patriotic bunting on the porch, and decorating everything with red, white, and blue.
But wait! Is your landscape part of the theme? Is it proudly American? Or is it decorated with English Ivy, Norway maple, Chinese silver grass, New Guinea impatiens, Korean dogwood, and Japanese honeysuckle? It’s a shame that so many suburban landscapes today are decidedly…. un-American!
Look around your neighborhood.
Do you see big open lawns extending right up to the house? That’s 19th Century British style!
Are there yards in your neighborhood with tightly-clipped evergreen shrubs arranged in rows? That style goes all the way back to 17th Century France!
Should we really be trying to copy that?
American history is closely tied to wilder, natural landscapes and a vast bounty of beautiful and useful plants. Those plants tell our American story!
For example, if you have an Eastern Red-cedar (Juniperis virginiana) in your yard, you should know that in 1584, English explorers were so awed by the incredible beauty and fragrance of Roanoke Island’s Eastern Red-cedars, they decided to make Roanoke the very first colonial settlement in America.
Many of our best native landscape plants today were critical to the life and survival of early American settlers. They used Witch-hazel (read more here & here), Arborvitae, Bee Balm, and hundreds of other plants for medicine. They learned which native plants were good for food and which were useful as building materials. They used native plants to improve their lives — native junipers made good pest repellents, and Bayberry scented their candles and removed odors in their homes.
The common names of many native plants still tell us so much about our past. In New England, colonists relied on the bloom time of Amalanchier shrubs to alert them to the beginning of the shad run as fish started migrating up-river from the sea, so they called the plant “Shadbush.” In other towns, settlers called the same plant “Serviceberry” because its bloom time marked the season when traveling ministers who performed wedding and funeral services could begin using local roads again as the snow melted. Those uses may be gone, but the names still link us to our history.
You could show your patriotism on Independence Day by planting a White Pine in your yard. Before the Revolution, the English Crown claimed exclusive use of all American White Pines for the British Royal Navy for ship masts. The Crown’s over-reach triggered the first violent protest by Americans against the British, which likely served as inspiration for the Boston Tea Party. In another practical act of rebellion, colonists started making their own ink and cloth dyes from Pokeweed, an American plant, thereby avoiding British taxes on imports.
Indigenous people introduced colonists to Joe Pye weed as an effective treatment for typhus, and so it was named for a highly-respected indigenous leader. Amsonia or Eastern Blue Star was named for a physician who once treated George Washington, and two early American botanists named their discoveries of indigenous woodland plants, Jeffersonia diphylla and Franklinia alatamaha, after our founding fathers. Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were hobby botanists, and when Washington lost interest in European plants, he began collecting and growing native American Redbud trees, among others, for his own estate.
From the first Thanksgiving through the War of Independence, America’s native plants supported settlers and, quite literally, built America. But today, as more Americans have moved to suburban areas, landscapes composed mostly of lawn grass, with a few tightly-clipped, non-native shrubs, have become standard.
The resulting loss of insects, birds, and wildlife is well-documented and tragic. By eliminating pesticides, reducing lawn, and planting native trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials, homeowners and gardeners can help save and rebuild American biodiversity.
But we can also reclaim American history! Learning about native plants teaches us about our past. The best landscapes give us a sense of place and connect us to what is truly American.
Let’s celebrate the 4th of July by planting a few great American plants! Many have been featured in this blog over the past several years. Maybe the Goldenrod called ‘Fireworks’ would be appropriate?
So, buy American! Plant American! Go USA!
