My herbology teacher and I got into a debate about growing non-native plants in our gardens. Not about growing nasty invasives, cuz' we don't do that, just useful plants that didn't evolve here in the New World tropics. We have different Philosophies of Gardening.
Her opinion was that the non-natives should be thrown in the garden and left to live or die under natural conditions. If they didn't make it, it wasn't meant to be, and if they adapted, all good. She doesn't like to garden much. I love to garden and so I took the opposite approach. Give the non-natives tender loving care and observe them for awhile before making a decision on whether or not to cultivate them long-term. I mean, with the crazy, non-traditional weather we're all having, maybe that's an approach for the natives as well. She strongly disagreed. Her point was that the human gardener is only a temporary advantage and eventually any plant outside will have to live on its own, without assistance. Long-term, she's got a point there. On the other hand, my sand dune will be underwater in about 10 years, so that long-term view isn't particularly relevant except in the case of seaweed and seagrass....
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| Beauty Berry, a Native |
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| Passionflower, Another Native (But don't grow it on the beach.) |
Natives like Beauty Berry and Passionflower don't need any particular care. They're easy-peasy.
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| Gynura procumbens, a Useful Non-Native |
Gynura procumbens, an Asian medicinal plant, is a non-native, non-invasive, but grows splendidly here. Or so I thought until the Siberian Express showed up. We actually hit the freeze mark this morning. We'll see if my non-native, tropical medicinals survive. What do you think about taking special care of useful non-natives? Do you think they should "sink or swim"??
