Learn about native plants before starting a garden

by Angie Wotton
    As I write this, SASWCD is getting ready for our annual fruit tree and shrub sale. People will come by our office this week to pick up their pre-orders of fruit trees, lilacs, highbush cranberries, asparagus and strawberries, among others. Since the economy’s downturn in 2008, we have heard reports that people are getting back into planting gardens again – much like the victory garden movement during World War II. This return to some self-sustenance for individuals and families extends to the revival of orchards and an interest in pruning new life into old trees.
    To help move that interest along, the SASWCD has included an orchard-related class for the past two years as part of their Winter Ag School. Because of these classes and a planting of fruit trees at my own place a couple of years ago, I now notice random apple trees and orchards as I drive the local back roads. I wonder if that clump of old, gnarly trees bordering the potato field could be brought back into production with some strategic pruning or if the people in that farmhouse use all of the apples from the 40 plus trees in that beautiful orchard and what great old varieties do they hold? Thanks to the passion of a couple of people here in the County, we know there are certain varieties being propagated that are native to our area, such as the Crimson Beauty, Duchess, Yellow Transparent and New Brunswicker.
    Much like vegetables that have been hybridized to be able to withstand the shipping and handling required to get them from California to the East Coast, most native apples are not found at the local grocery store. Culturally however, they play a big part of personal history. Yellow Transparents make wonderful applesauce in August but you better pick them when they are ripe because they do not last long. Yet, they are known for being one of the better apples for cooking and there are few things better than opening a jar of canned Yellow Transparent applesauce and tasting it in the cold month of January.  Crimson Beauty was bred by Francis Peabody Sharp in New Brunswick in the 1800’s. His apples, along with some of his descendants, reside in Houlton today.
    Apples aren’t the only fruit obviously. The Stacyville Pear comes from a hundred year old tree in Stacyville. Native plums have proven to be the perfect pollinators for hybrid varieties. After my husband and I planted 3 hybrid hazelnut trees, we soon discovered a dozen other wild hazelnuts growing nearby. This kind of learn-as-you-go knowledge connects us more to our land while potentially adding to our self-sustenance (if we can beat the squirrels).
    Learning about the diversity of native plants and trees makes us appreciate and value where we live. It also helps us understand the role that native plants play in our ecosystem and understand that non-native, invasive species can become serious pests due to the lack of natural predators and diseases to control them. Native plant information can be found online or through publications by the Cooperative Extension.
    Editor’s note: Angie Wotton loves her work as district manager for the SASWCD. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 532-9407 or via e-mail at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net