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Celebrated in song and verse for centuries, violets have been revered for their delicate beauty, their culinary and medicinal value, their sweet scent, and their happy association with spring. Depending on the culture and time, violets have been symbols of many virtues, including modesty, purity, faithfulness, everlasting love, and remembrance. With over 400 species distributed around the Northern Hemisphere, violets have been known, appreciated, and used by humans all over the world and throughout history.

Only in recent times have violets fallen into disrepute — as an enemy of the perfect lawn. Weed-killers have been employed widely to get rid of this “delicate and fair” little bloom. But at what cost? Let’s reconsider.

The Common Blue Violet, native to forests and meadows of the Eastern US, is Viola sororia. The word sororia means “sisterly,” apparently because our native Violet bears a close family resemblance to the hundreds of other species of Viola distributed around the globe – a vast sorority!

The Viola genus also includes the large variety of annuals known in horticulture as “pansies,” but African violets are in an entirely different genus and unrelated. Numerous other species of Viola are native to the US in varying flower and leaf colors, and are suited to a variety of habitats. Horticulturists have developed cultivars of Viola sororia in pure white, speckled, and even grayish forms that are available for sale. But even in the wild, natural color variations are common among Viola sororia, so you may see blue and mostly-white flowers growing together.

Both the flowers and leaves of the Common Blue Violet are edible – and tasty! The leaves may be eaten raw in salads or cooked like spinach, and they are loaded with vitamins A and C. The flowers have a delicate flavor and are frequently used to garnish salads, or candied as a charming decoration for sweets. It’s easy to find directions on-line for making your own candied violets, and all you need is an egg white and sugar. Just be sure to harvest your violets from a spot that has NOT been treated with herbicide or pesticide!

Violets have been used medicinally in many cultures. They are said to have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and to be useful in a tea for treating coughs and colds. Poultices made from Violets also have been used to treat skin conditions like insect bites, dry skin, and eczema.

Like most native plants, the Common Blue Violet’s greatest value is to nature. Violets are the host plant for some of our most spectacular native butterflies – Fritillaries. Just like monarchs, whose caterpillars only feed on milkweed, all 20 species of Fritillaries must lay their eggs where their caterpillars can find Violet leaves. The caterpillars usually stay close to the ground, hiding under the leaves and feeding on them at night. The adult butterflies will visit many different nectar flowers and are always a thrill to see.

Violets are also an essential source of nectar to many early-emerging native bees. At least one species of American bee specializes in Violet pollen, meaning that is the only thing the bee can eat and feed its young. Andrena violae is a small bee common in the Eastern US that emerges from its winter hibernation in April and May and immediately begins hunting for Violets, which bloom at just the right time. The bee pollinates Violets so they can produce seed, keeping future populations of Violets available to feed Fritillaries — a great example of the inter-connection between native plants and multiple insects.

The native habitat of Viola sororia is moist woods and along streams, but it can adapt to sunny conditions with enough water, which explains why Violets do so well in fertilized and irrigated lawns. In the garden, in rich soil and partial shade, Violets make a lovely and durable groundcover. The heart-shaped leaves look tidy all summer long, and individual plants can live up to 10 years.

Violets spread easily by seed, which is why they are so often considered “weedy.” In addition to producing seed from pollinated flowers, Violets utilize cleistogamy, a process of self-fertilization that guarantees survival even if unpredictable weather conditions in early spring do not allow for sufficient pollinator visits. Cleistogamous flowers appear in late summer, never opening for insect pollination, yet still producing fertile seeds. The seeds mature in capsules that literally explode, throwing seeds up to several yards away from the parent plant. Seed dispersal is further helped by ants that collect the seeds for their rich coating of protein and fat. The ants discard the seeds after consuming the coating, effectively planting them at even greater distances from the parent.

For most of our history, people considered a “flowery mead” to be the idyllic lawn, a beautiful and romantic place for children and lovers to frolic in the merry month of May. So, consider leaving the “modest and delicate” blossoms of violets blooming this spring. The bees and butterflies will thank you!

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

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Is it spring yet?

For many gardeners, the earliest signs of spring are snowdrops, crocuses, and daffodils. But if you know where to look, you can find blooming flowers — and the little critters who need them – even before those bulbs come to life. One of the earliest bloomers in the Northern half of the US also happens to be one of our most interesting and valuable native shrubs: Salix discolor, or the amazing Pussy Willow!

In February, Pussy Willows are already producing the adorable, fuzzy flowers that give them their common name. This type of flower has no petals or fragrance, and is known as a “catkin” from the Dutch word “katteken,” which means kitten. Just as soft to the touch as they look, the silvery catkins are popular in spring flower arrangements and delight children of all ages.

Over the next month, the catkins will gradually open revealing numerous string-like filaments. Pussy willow shrubs are dioecious, meaning the shrub holds either male or female flowers. On the male plants, the filaments hold quantities of pollen that give the catkins a bright yellow appearance. The female flowers look more like spiny caterpillars than kittens, so for ornamental purposes, the male shrubs are preferred.

Pussy Willows typically are large, multi-stemmed shrubs or small trees, topping out between 15 and 25 feet. Unlike most trees, however, they can benefit from being severely pruned, or “coppiced,” to keep them shorter. Cutting back the branches after blooming will generate multiple slender new stems, increasing the fullness of the shrub and the number of catkins within easy reach in the following season. 

Humans have used the flexible young branches of willows for basket-weaving, arrows, rustic fencing, and many other purposes for hundreds of years. One of the most important traditional uses of willow bark was medicinal. Willow bark tea contains salicin, a pain-killer and fever reducer, now synthetically produced as aspirin.

By far the most important use of Pussy Willow in our gardens, however, is to support native pollinators and other insects. As one of the very earliest plants to bloom, Pussy Willow provides nectar and pollen for early-emerging native bees. In fact, the Andrina family of native bees are willow “specialists” – they must have willow pollen to feed their young. The nectar of willow catkins also supports many other insects in early spring when food is especially scarce.

All summer long, the leaves of Pussy Willow feed the caterpillars of more than 450 species of moths and butterflies — second only to oak trees in providing caterpillars for baby birds! Willow is a host plant for a huge number of our most spectacular butterflies: Viceroy, Red-spotted Purple, Mourning Cloak, and various hairstreaks, fritillaries, and dusky-wings.

In addition to Pussy Willows, there are at least 90 species of willows native to the US, and 20 or more native to the Northeast. Unfortunately, there are also many non-native species sold in the nursery trade, including the well-known weeping willow (Salix babylonica), that do not provide the same value to our native birds and insects. Be sure to check the scientific name before you add a willow to your landscape.  Pussy Willow (Salix discolor), Black Willow (Salix nigra), Shining Willow (Salix lucida), and Silky Willow (Salix sericea) are all good native shrubs, but Pussy Willow is likely the easiest to find.

Pussy Willow is a great choice for sunny wet areas, including rain gardens. It is an ideal solution for a soggy lawn area where rainwater tends to collect. All willows have extensive root systems that seek out water, so they should not be planted near a septic system, but they are perfect near a stream or pond or anywhere you want to stabilize a slope eroded by stormwater.

Deer will browse Pussy Willow, but because the shrub actually benefits from winter pruning, the nibbling is unlikely to harm the plant. Pussy Willows grow fast and are very resilient. In fact, many people propagate them simply by cutting off a dormant stem in winter and sticking it in the ground, or even a glass of water, until roots appear. Hardy in Zones 2 through 7, the only thing Pussy Willow does not tolerate well is shade. You’ll need at least a half day of sun, and plenty of water until the roots are established. 

Pussy Willow is an all-around winner: easy to grow, interesting and attractive, incredibly valuable for the ecology, and a real problem-solver for a troublesome spot in the landscape.

So, where will you put it?

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

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Many of us grown-ups, upon learning of the complex relationships between native plants and insects, wonder “why am I hearing about this for the first time?” or “did I miss this in school?”  No worries! You are not alone. This subject only recently has become part of the basic biology curriculum.

At the Greenburgh Nature Center, we want people of all ages to understand this vital relationship. So, let’s start at the beginning — with some visual aids!

“Native” plants are the species that evolved in a particular place without human intervention. In the US, that means the trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials that were here before European settlers arrived. Native plants are important largely because of their relationship with native insects. 

The majority of insects eat plants. Most other animals, including humans, also eat plants, or they eat other animals that eat plants. As the main food supply for most living things, plants would soon be wiped off the face of the Earth if they did not develop strategies to protect themselves from all of these plant-eaters!

Over the millennia, plants evolved defenses to protect themselves from plant eaters. You may recognize a few of these if you’ve eaten a very hot chili pepper or had a bad reaction to touching poison ivy. Insects (the largest category of plant eaters) face similar problems.

To survive, insects had to evolve methods of overcoming plant defenses. But the enormous variety and complexity of defenses in the plant world limited insects to overcoming only the specific defenses of a limited number of plant families. As a result, about 90% of all plant-eating insects are “specialists,” meaning they are able to eat only a few closely-related species of plants. Those plants became the “host” plants for the insect species adapted to overcoming their specific defenses.

The best-known example of this insect/host relationship is the monarch butterfly and milkweed. Milkweed has sticky sap loaded with toxins that repel most insects. The monarch caterpillar evolved the ability to tolerate those toxins, but has no ability to overcome the defenses of other plants. Monarch caterpillars cannot eat the leaves of plants outside of the milkweed family.

The situation is the same for most plant-eating insects. These evolutionary plant/insect relationships developed over very long stretches of time, thousands of years. So, most insects can eat only those plants that evolved with them in the same place and over the same long period of time. That is why insects native to North America cannot eat plants that have been brought in, or “introduced,” by human settlers from other continents.

As you look around your neighborhood, you will no doubt see many plants introduced from other continents: Norway maples, Korean dogwoods, Japanese maples, Norway spruces, Japanese barberry, English ivy, Chinese feather grass, and many more. These non-native plants have evolutionary relationships with insects on other continents, but most North American insects cannot eat them. Many of these plants are marketed as “pest-free” for exactly that reason. Insects here avoid them, and many gardeners like that! 

But “pest-free” plants come at a terrible cost: nearly all (96%) of our native terrestrial birds need insects to feed their young. Well-documented and shocking declines in insect and bird populations over the past 50 years tell us we are facing a crisis. Without native plants, we lose insect populations. Without insect populations, we lose birds. We also lose all of the other animals that feed on insects, as well as butterflies, fireflies, and specialist bees that pollinate food crops and most of our flowering plants. More broadly, without native plants, biodiversity itself is threatened and our ecosystems become unstable.

Fortunately, this is one crisis we can solve in our own yards. By choosing native plants, and planting a lot more of them, we can actually bring insect species back from the brink of extinction!

A wonderful example of this is the story of the beautiful Atala butterfly, native to parts of Florida. The Atala was believed to be extinct from 1939 until the 1960’s when a small population was discovered on an undeveloped island off the Florida coast. Then, in the 1980’s, horticulturists discovered and began growing a lovely small plant called the Coontie palm (Zamia floridana or integrifolia). Coontie was once common in Florida, but it was overharvested in the wild by early settlers for its starchy root. By the 1930’s, the plant had largely disappeared from the Florida landscape. Beginning in the late 1980’s, the re-discovered Coontie became popular with homeowners and was planted in gardens and along walkways in many Florida suburbs. And suddenly, the Atala butterfly re-appeared!

It turns out that Coontie is the host plant for the Atala butterfly! As Coontie became popular in suburban yards, the Atala butterfly rebounded. Today, this beautiful butterfly is common enough that some misguided homeowners look for pesticides to control the Atala caterpillars eating their Coontie plants!

So, hopefully, we adults are now on common ground with today’s kids. We understand that native plants are a key element in the health of our planet. If we continue to use “pest-free” non-native plants, we will continue to see our favorite back-yard birds disappear, along with monarchs, other butterflies, and the rest of the natural food web. Or, we can do a simple good thing for nature: fill our yards with native plants and provide the food so critical for life.

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG – AND NOTHING ELSE – ENTER YOUR EMAIL BELOW