Life In the Country: Native Plants vs Noxious, Invasive and Poisonous Plants

by Missy Janes

There are many wild and cultivated plants that pose a threat to our natural environment and livestock. A good steward of the land controls noxious, invasive and poisonous plants.

Learn to discriminate between beneficial, poisonous and invasive plants. Native plants are outcompeted for space, sunlight, soil nutrients and moisture when invasives overtake them.
Get an up-to-date list from your county extension agent or the Virginia Native Plant Society. Remove thistle, multi-flora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, trumpet vine, ailanthus tree, Oriental Bittersweet and other invasive species so our native species remain healthy. Wildlife areas require routine control for long-term success.
Some plants and shrubs used for landscaping are poisonous to animals. Be cautious. Clean up pruning debris and do not dump in fields with livestock.
Encourage native wildflower and grass meadows by identifying open and wooded areas and managing those locations for wildlife. When establishing a new meadow, you must control anything invasive.
Use organic fertilizer and weed control where possible. Careful application of chemicals (alternative or otherwise) should be used at minimal doses applied at the right time of year, not in early spring when rains are often. Fertilizers should be organic or slow release nitrogen. Organic is best. Chemicals should be applied by someone who is licensed and knowledgeable.

Adaptable and prolific, these animals now occupy a prominent place in our landscapes. Once hunted by gray wolf, cougar, coyote and bear, they continue to increase with barely a natural predator left. As their range continues to shrink from human development, landscapes and understory woodlands suffer. Deer feed on acorns, seeds and young trees, hampering the regeneration of forest. Native wildflowers are depleted. Ground nesting birds lose cover and cannot reproduce.

To protect plantings from deer rub and browsing:

Deter with various organic scent options that smell badly. -Protect young plants with tree tubes or cages
Fence out with an enclosure of 7’ – 8’ tall.
Procure a permit to cull large herds.
Dogs that live outside can help.
Design remedial measures w/natural resource professional.

See Managing White-Tailed Deer in Suburban Environments, a technical guide. www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/suburban.pdf

Bowman’s Hill Wildlife Preserve publishes a good list of deer tolerant native plants. www.bhwp.org

A few natives that deer seem to avoid from Bowman’s list: Aconitum uncinatum (monkshood), Amsonia hubrectii/tabernae montana (blue star), Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem), Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine), Aster novae-angliae (New England aster), Aster oblongifolius (aromatic aster), Baptisia australis (blue false indigo), Cimicifuga racemosa (black cohosh), Coreopsis rosea (rose coreopsis), Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot), Panicum virgatum (switch grass), Phlox divaricata (blue wood phlox), Phlox stolonifera (creeping phlox), Rudbeckia fulgida/R. hirta (black-eyed Susan), Amelanchier spp. (service berry), Calycanthus floridus (Carolina allspice), Clethra alnifolia (summersweet), Hamamelis spp. (witchhazel).

Pollinators and Beneficial Insects vs. Pests
Pollinators and beneficial insects often depend on particular plants to thrive and are responsible for assisting reproduction in 80% of the world’s flowering plants.
Many have a complicated inter-dependence that is synchronized to bloom time and the life cycle of a parasite or predator.
Eliminate chemicals or choose organic options, beginning with the most benign solution. Learn good bug from bad and how to attract one and detract the other.
Set up healthy conditions by selecting plants that belong in the proper situation – wet, dry, shady, sunny, acid, alkaline, etc.
Keep a close eye for signs of stress or changes; intervene promptly. This is the Integrated Pest Management (IPM method) of monitoring. Your extension agent and local arborist are a wealth of knowledge.

Local Foods Fresh from the Farm

More local farms are expanding their program from a traditional livestock-based operation to also raising vegetables for market. These efforts contribute to the countryside way of life and healthy options for all of us. Make your food purchases at farmer’s markets and consider purchasing a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – subscription for the season.
Support for local farmers adds up to fresher food than that which has travelled a thousand miles or more to your grocery store. This eliminates unnecessary carbon dioxide and extra packaging associated with distant farms.
Inquire and encourage the restaurants and markets you frequent to buy local and grow organic. Fewer chemicals will benefit everyone.
Organic practices reduce nitrate pollution in ground water, increasing human and animal health.

This is an excerpt from Missy Janes’ book, Life in the Country. A long-time Middleburg resident, she’s a writer and photographer. Her book is available at The Fun Shop.