This amazing elm tree is beating the odds in Amherst, MA. © Sue Reed
Wildlife gardeners are, by their very nature, indefatigable optimists.
We have great hope that, by planting native plants in the right places, we will attract a diverse array of wildlife to our gardens. And, in truth, it is a safe bet that this hope will be borne out.
Sadly, though,our optimism is sometimes tested.
Most advocates for native plants know the horror stories of alien invaders all too well. The litany includes chestnut blight, dutch elm disease, hemlock wooly adelgid, emerald ash borer, viburnum leaf beetle, and more.
The damage from these invasive pests has been, or is expected to be, extensive to our American chestnut, American elm, Eastern hemlock, green ash, and native viburnums. So extensive that it may be tempting tempting to give up hope that we can protect these “lost cause” species and circle the wagons around other native plants not (yet) under such devastating attack.
Hemlock wooly adelgid is wreaking havoc on southern populations. © 2011, The Ohio State University
Not so quick . . . .
I’ve written before about attempts to preserve some of these species through the introduction of disease-resistant native plant cultivars, but today I’m not writing about those. Those manifest our innate hope that humans can fix the problems that humans have created.
No, today I’m writing about the need to plant trees we know are doomed to die young.
We are used to thinking that trees have a natural lifespan of decades or centuries, and this is true. But native trees begin having a beneficial impact on their environment almost from the moment they are seedlings.
The leaves of this American chestnut are host to 125 species of butterflies and moths. © Ellen Honeycutt
Our majestic American chestnut trees are a food source for over 120 species of butterfly and moth larvae, and for the most part it does not matter in the least to these larvae whether the trees they are feasting on will die in two years or two hundred years.
What matters is that the leaves of the American chestnut are available when butterfly or moth is laying eggs, and whether they are there when those eggs hatch.
If we throw in the towel and stop planting these endangered trees in our landscapes, we are making the problem worse for the wildlife that depend on those specific endangered trees.
White ash is a beautiful tree worth planting, despite the attack of emerald ash borer. Image: Richard Webb, Bugwood.org
Many of us know friends or family members who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness at an age far too young, but only the most callous among us would use that diagnosis as an excuse to stop loving or taking care of them.
Trees aren’t people, but I do think we owe it to our world to minimize the damage we are doing.
While the people who read this blog are not the ones who imported chestnut blight or dutch elm disease or the hemlock wooly adelgid, we CAN keep fighting to make sure these native plants exist in sufficient numbers in our landscapes.
© 2013, Vincent Vizachero. All rights reserved. This article is the property of Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Vincent Vizachero
Hey Vincent, this is a great idea/reminder! Thanks for posting it.
Thanks, Sue, and thank you for letting me use your American elm photo!
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..New Post on the Downside to Biodiversity
I am devastated to lose all my mature ash trees in the coming few years to EAB…it will erase most of my canopy so I am planting other native trees for now to replace some of the canopy although it will take years. You have a point though to still consider the trees lost..If I wanted to plant ash trees it would not work until the beetles are through and gone and then maybe it will be safe to plant them again…I have a few spots I am not replanting with any tree and will reserve them for a few ash trees eventually if and when it is safe…thanks for giving me hope I can still have ash trees.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Why Grow That?
Thanks for the little ray of hope, Vincent.
It seems like an endless stream of invasive diseases and pests coming our way. Some are fighting back against the scourge by innoculating trees. The City of Toronto and other municipalities are injecting large, healthy ash trees with TreeAzin. It’s a committment every two years until… Well, let’s hope that EAB runs out of food and dies off. One company spends $1M/yr. to tend to every need of a magnificient, large white elm. We need to retain these behemoths for a large canopy layer and all the services it provides: habitat for wildlife, mitigation of storm water runoff, filtering of pollutants and generation of clean air. I agree we should keep planting, even if the trees don’t live as long as they are supposed to. But in an urban situation, it is particularly sad. Given that the average lifespan of a tree in my city is 8 yrs., it all seems like a very expensive, make-work project for tree breeders and planters.
In the book American Chestnut, author Susan Freinkel points out that one of the contributing factors to the decline of this great tree was the advice of the USDA that landowners cut down as many healthy chestnuts as they could before the blight destroyed their “value”.
The sad irony of this advice is that the loss of so many healthy trees undoubtedly robbed subsequent generations of blight-resistant chestnut DNA.
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..New Post on the Downside to Biodiversity
Excellent point, Vincent! Thank you. Just because a tree doesn’t attain the lifespan we “think” it should because of imported pests and diseases doesn’t mean we should give up on the species entirely. Here in the northern Southwest, where we’ve lost millions of native pines from our forests to Ips and pinebark beetles (also native, but given an unnatural advantage by warmer winters and drought caused by global climate change), we’re seeing the ecosystem shifts from that loss of woodland and forest canopy. Pine bark and Ips beetles are part of our native landscape here, and the fact that they may kill the piñon, ponderosa and lodgepole pines we plant shouldn’t discourage us from planting them anyway for their other benefits.
Susan J. Tweit recently posted..A House Built With Love
Interesting concept that should be put into practice. It just makes sense! Thanks!
Loret recently posted..Lousy photo, fleeting encounter
Seems like we really need to keep imitating Mother Nature who always has seedlings coming underneath larger trees.
Very important points, Vincent! Planting Chestnut trees to provide food for those 120 species of butterflies and moths is very important, otherwise we’re going to lose them as well. We see trees as long term investments, but I think it’s very wise to follow your advice and plant them for shorter term benefits as well.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Speaking at Todays Horticulture Symposium at Longwood Gardens
In the east, we need to keep planting native dogwoods to support the birds as they migrate south in the fall. Buying small, young trees inexpensively helps. Not making them focal points in the landscape but adding them to the shrub border makes them useful as long as they survive.
Great tips, Donna!
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..New Post on the Downside to Biodiversity
I absolutely love this! Hope springs eternal for those who love the good Earth!
This is food for thought. I didn’t realize that even a diseased and doomed tree can play a valuable role in the ecosystem. One of the hemlocks at the local nature center is infested by wooly adelgids. We were discussing whether to remove it. I think you just saved its life. Let it continue feeding caterpillars as long as the non-native pest permits it.
Beatriz Moisset recently posted..Milkweed’s last hooray. Part two