As we mark the 250th Anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence, let’s reconsider the American landscape. Is it still truly American?
Look around any suburban neighborhood. Do you see manicured lawns extending right up to the house? That’s the style favored by the same British aristocracy Americans rejected in 1776!
And do you see yards in your neighborhood with tightly-clipped evergreen shrubs arranged in rows? That’s the style favored by French nobility before the French Revolution!
Should we really be trying to copy that?
American history is closely tied to wilder, more natural landscapes and the vast bounty of beautiful and useful plants native to this continent. These plants tell our American story! (Click on highlighted text below for more information.)
From the beginning, the awesome beauty of America’s trees captivated English explorers along the Atlantic coast. In 1584, explorers were so awed by the incredible beauty and fragrance of Roanoke Island’s Eastern Red-cedars (Juniperis virginiana) that they decided to make Roanoke the very first colonial settlement in America.
Farther north, in 1605, English explorers were stunned by the sight of forests crowding right to the shoreline including vast numbers of incredibly straight, tall White Pines (Pinus strobus). The British Royal Navy desperately needed a new source of specialized lumber for ships’ masts, so the White Pine became a motivating reason for colonizing America. But as colonists settled in New England, they also found the White Pine useful for building everything they needed to live. To prevent the growing American population from harvesting trees needed by the Royal Navy, the English Crown claimed all American White Pines over 24 inches in diameter to be property of the King, and imposed penalties for cutting them! The Crown’s over-reach triggered the Pine Tree Riot in 1771, the first violent protest by American colonists against the British, which likely served as inspiration for the Boston Tea Party.
As tensions grew with England, Americans found other ways to protest using American plants. The hated Tea Act caused colonists to start using the leaves of a native shrub, Ceanothus americanus, or “New Jersey Tea,” instead of English imports. And in another practical act of rebellion, colonists started making their own ink and cloth dyes from “Pokeweed” (Phytolacca americana), a common American plant, thereby avoiding British taxes on imported goods.
Colonists learned from indigenous people to plant the “three sisters,” corn, beans, and squash, for a nutritious diet based on American plants. And the earliest American cookbooks included recipes for pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce, both from American native plants and echoing the first Thanksgiving.
Many of our best native landscape plants today were critical to the life and survival of early American settlers. They used Witch-hazel (click here and here for more), 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 repellants, 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 travelling ministers who performed wedding and funeralservices could begin using local roads again as the snow melted. Those uses may be gone, but the names still link us to our history.
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.
After the Revolution, as our new country was still being explored, Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark on a daring mission of exploration to the Pacific Ocean. Part of their mission, expressly ordered by Jefferson, was to collect and document American plant species. Captain Meriwether Lewis collected specimens, and made drawings and paintings of over 200 plants he described as “common to this country,” but most unknown to science at the time.
From the first Thanksgiving through the era of Westward Expansion, 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 our 250th Anniversary by pledging to plant more great American plants. Many have been featured in this blog over the past several years. There are so many American trees, shrubs, and perennials that would make great additions to your yard!
Maybe to celebrate this special July 4, the Goldenrod called ‘Fireworks’ would be appropriate?
