Jo Towns

Steve Thorn wrote:I've really enjoyed putting in my zip code to the Native Plant Database from the National Audubon Society link above, and browsing the native plants for my area. I've seen a lot of familiar plants from my property that I hadn't identified yet, which was really neat!

I also have a few of the field guides from the National Audubon Society that I've really enjoyed, and they have been handy identifying a lot of plants on my property so that I can then research other uses and benefits of the plants.

Many thanks for mentioning this. I have a (rather long) standing list of plants I want to add to my yard. After going to the Audubon website, I now have a few I can bump to the front of the line so that I can feed my local birds.

This is super interesting to me, but I currently have limited space in which to garden. I've seen people talking about planting 500 seeds in a big plot... Do you think you could still start a landrace with 25 - 50 plants instead of close to 100?

Or, another possibility, do you think you could landrace a couple things right on top of each other, in a polyculture bed?

I don't want to dedicate my whole growing space to one type of crop.

I love hens and chicks for rocky/ sandy soil. I have portions of my yard that have a similar soil. It blocks out grass, but doesn't spread as fast as I would like.

Things that takeover and choke out grass at my site: veronica/speedwell (works best planted next to bushes or slight shade), ground ivy /creeping charlie, a combo of violets and dandelion planted together, climbing peas planted densely with no trellis, and chickweed. I'm currently planting lambs ears because it's worked for me before.

Would you be interested in planting lowbush cranberry or some other low growing bush?

I think that the "tastiness" test is the real challenge of perennials.

The majority of the perennials I enjoy are herbs or medicinal plants. I'm a little south of you (5b), but I like mint, oregano, thyme, chamomile, tarragon. I just planted some lovage, so not sure how much I'll like it yet. The majority of the "weedy" perennials growing on my site are used more for medicinal than food staples (dandelion comes to mind). And I have several things I've planted just for the medicinal value: echinacea, bee balm, stinging nettle.

That said, I have always loved rhubarb raw. I used to go out into the garden as a kid and just snack on it. I love asparagus, which I just planted.  I also planted garlic with the intention of "perennializing" it, or letting go a little wild.

Do you like sorrel? That should grow in zone 4.  

In your zone, I might concentrate on technically annual or biennial plants that will regrown in spring from seeds or tubers. Potatoes, though technically annual, can be semi-perennial if you intentionally or unintentionally leave some of the tubers in the ground.

I'm fortunate to have bought a property with a very "neglected" lawn that hasn't seen any weeding  out in 3+ years. It has several varieties of pseudo-grass that add to the biodiversity. The edible/medicinal plants I've found growing organically (unplanted) are:

- plantain (edible & medicinal)
- wild violets (edible)
- dandelion (edible & medicinal) - My family is from the mountains of Appalachia, where cooking with violet and dandelion blossums is common
- chickweed (edible)
- creeping charlie (edible & medicinal)
- lambs ears (medicinal)

I'm planning on adding purslane, roman chamomile, and creeping thyme to this list this year