22 Mar What’s in Your Yard? by Pete Muroski
This year’s growing season is here. The winter snowstorms should be behind us, but I have witnessed a few snowstorms in April and one in May. The snow that falls this time of year does not last long on the ground due to the warm soil and daylight lasting well into the evening.
Early spring flowering plants play an important role feeding our native, early season pollinating insects. Many of us have spent many Fall afternoons planting tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth and snowdrops to get the first show of color in our spring garden. These exotic spring flowering plants are pretty to look at but have very little ecological value. These Eurasian Ephemerals, as these plants are categorized, are native to other parts of the world. Our pollinators, for the most part, have not evolved to a point where they will accept these plants as a nutritional supplement to their diet.
In the Northeast forests, this time of year, just before the leaves begin to flush out, there is a genre of native plants taking advantage of the warm sun reaching the forest floor before the leaves come out. These plants can be defined as Eastern North American Ephemerals.
These particular plants are underused and can be tough to find in most garden centers. These early spring, native plants should be very important additions to our landscape to nourish our early native pollinators. These Eastern North American Ephemerals have been growing each spring for thousands of years on our local forest floor and adjacent meadows and can easily be grown in our backyard garden setting. A very short list of some of these attractive native ephemerals are Yellow Trout Lily, Virginia Bluebells, Easter Shooting Stars, Jack-in-the Pulpit, Mayapple, Trillium, Dutchman’s Breeches, and Bloodroot. These plants can and will sustain local wildlife in our yard. At Native Landscapes and Garden Center we will be selling these plants this season.
Native Landscapes and Garden Center is a native plant garden center. We specialize in Northeast native plants because these plants sustain wildlife in our environment. Once established, native plants require little, if any fertilizer or water. The right plant in the proper location works every time. This symbiotic relationship between native plants, birds, insects and animals cannot be duplicated by any others means. Our Garden Center carries a wide variety of native perennials, shrubs and trees. This year’s focus, when available, will be straight species native plants. We specialize in these plants because they have the highest nutritional value within the species for feeding local wildlife. We also carry a wide variety of fruiting plants. The Garden Center opens April 1st and is open 7 days a week from 10am – 3pm.
The landscape construction, installation and maintenance crews at Native Landscapes focus on a naturalistic landscape design using natural materials and indigenous plant species. Native, eatable landscape planting designs and installation seem to be the trend these days. Plants such as Blueberry, Pawpaw, Elderberry, Shad, Plum, Strawberry, Huckleberry, Cranberry, Grapes, and Cherries can easily be incorporated into the eatable landscape design.
Native Landscapes and Garden Center is located at 991 Route 22 in Pawling where the Appalachian Trail crosses Route 22. We are honored to be recognized as part of the Appalachian Trail and the designated base camp for the Harlem Valley Appalachian Trail Community. This venture supported by both Pawling and Dover is in place to help hikers on their journey. We have gone out of our way to support hikers that need help due to hypothermia, bug bite reactions, those who have been injured or those who are just not prepared for this venture. The thru-hikers tell me we have one of the few free outdoor showers on the trail. In addition, we are a mail drop and carry a few necessities and snacks for the hikers on this stage of their journey.
The Harlem Valley Appalachian Trail Community and Native Landscapes and Garden Center have partnered to host three events this season. On Sunday, April 21 at 11am we will be celebrating Earth Day at the Garden Center, and we will discuss why it makes sense to plant native plants this spring in your garden. This short talk will focus on the history of Earth Day and why this day is so important. I will then lead a hike from 12:00pm – 1:00pm across the boardwalk and into the Greiner Hill Woods. It will be a perfect time to look for early native Ephemerals in bloom.
On Sunday, July 14 between 10:00am – 3:00pm, Native Landscapes and the Harlem Valley Appalachian Trail Community will be celebrating Trail Days. This is the busiest time of the year on the trail in our area. Thru-hikers that began their hike in Georgia late last winter are coming through Pawling on their way to Maine before the end of the season. As part of our schedule that day, we offer a free barbeque for the hikers, lawn games, and talks about hiker experiences on the trail. Before Covid, this was a very popular event.
On October 20 between 10:00am – 3:00pm, we will sponsor Trail Magic Day. What is Trail Magic? Let’s say you are coming down off Cat Rocks toward West Dover Road. It is a hot day, and you ran out of water around Nuclear Lake. You are borderline dehydrated when you reach West Dover Road, and someone has left 3 gallons of water along the road…. that’s Trail Magic. We take it a step further at Native Landscapes, starting with breakfast, lunch and “Some of the best fresh-squeezed apple cider in the valley.,” a quote from Brad Kendall. If you are interested in in getting involved in the events of the HVATC, contact us at nl*******@***il.com.
The last event I would like to promote here is The Muddy Hands Festival at Freedom Park in Lagrange on May 4 between 1:00pm – 4:00pm. A celebration of conservation, ecology and nature with live music. There will be firsthand adventure learning, kids’ activities and a demonstration workshop. For more information on this event call 845-452-1972 or email re********@********ny.gov.
All these wonderful events for kids of all ages are right here in our back woods. Your support is greatly appreciated.