EXPANDING THE NEIGHBORHOOD
One “Native” Plant At A Time

by Peter W. Gribble
The subject of native plants is enormous and wide-ranging. For apartment people living in small spaces with tiny balconies, it good to know native plants can thrive in small spaces, too.

What is meant by a ‘native plant’ is a human designation of some controversy. Climate change is causing some plants to extend their range – some more obviously than others. For example, the California tree or yellow bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus) is a native of the west coast of the US, but has lately advanced northward into BC and is proving to be an aggressive nuisance, pushing out the local native species. Is it native even if it is invasive?

Humanity must exercise caution in their love of plants from their home far away. The introduction of Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) by a Scottish sea captain to Vancouver Island in 1850 has resulted in its colonization of much of southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Blooming in May through to early June, the yellow flowers are seen everywhere in open meadows, roadsides and on disturbed sites.

In the interests of biodiversity, we can reacquaint ourselves with the plants that were here long before we were. In this modest introduction, four plants described below can be purchased at a garden centre and grown on a balcony. Do not collect these from the wild.

An easy start is Kinnikinnik or Common Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). It’s a trailing evergreen plant with ascending tips seldom reaching 8” or 20cm. with white or pale pink flowers similar in shape to blueberry or pieris flowers. Fall leaf colour is tinged red gold. Red berries persist into the winter and are edible but rather flavourless. The leaves were once used as a smoking additive to tobacco by the First Nations. It needs sunny, poor to average soil, is used for fixing slopes and dry problem areas of the landscape and is does well in rock gardens. It needs no fertilizer and can be found in the ground cover sections of garden centres.

This easily recognizable and attractive native is BC’s provincial flower, the Dogwood - not the tree, but the Bunchberry or Dwarf Dogwood (Cornus canadensis.) It grows 4” to 6” (10-15 cm) tall and spreads 8” to 12” (20-30 cm) across. The white petal-like bracts surround the true flower parts at the centre of the bloom. Along with its bronzy-red fall colour are the bright red edible berries which are sweeter and fleshier than Kinnikinnik.

Unlike Kinnikinnik, Bunchberry prefers a shady aspect and doesn’t like to dry out. They are lovely as a shady spring ground cover in a moist woodland area. When you come upon a well-established carpet of Cornus canadensis in bloom in spring on the forest floor, it is breathtaking. It is particularly beautiful planted under vine maple (Acer circinatum) If you want to achieve the effect and have the space, Heritage Perennials suggests 10 to 25 plants per square yard. Dogwood Bunchberry also grows on trees, logs and stumps and can be grown successfully in a pot with moist, acidic and slightly sandy soil. It is usually found in the shade garden section in large plant stores.

The liquorice fern, Polypodium glycyrrhiza is a coastal fern often growing as an epiphyte (non-parasitic) on deciduous trees. Like Cornus, it is also found on fallen logs and tree stumps. It has glossy triangular fronds with slender elegance that issue from a creeping rhizome having a distinctly liquorice scent, hence the name.

If the liquorice flavour isn’t enough for you for identification, on the underside of the frond are round or oval sori (sorus – singular) that have no indusium – a protective membrane covering or surrounding the sorus where the spores are. Both the round shape and lack of indusium are identifying features.

It is easily potted up in a container with regular potting soil or planted out in woodland borders, mossy gardens as a shade-loving groundcover. Underplanting with moss gives the fronds a springy look. It grows to 12” (30 cm) and prefers filtered sun to shade.

Unlike the Bunchberry, Liquorice Fern has mastered the trick of surviving drought. The fronds will curl up and dry but revive when the moisture returns. The same behaviour is found in mosses and lichens and is called poikilohydric - a choice word if you’re playing a rousing game of botanical Scrabble.

Many varieties of Heuchera or Alumroot are available at garden centres due to the successful hybridization over the years of crossing the many species including the popular Coral Bells Heuchera or H. sanguinea originally from Mexico. New varieties come out every year, creating a wide palette of beautiful foliage plants, some with striking red flowers. Most Heucheras are tolerant of sun and shade but require moist well-draining soil. The two natives in our area are Heuchera micrantha and H. glabra. H. micrantha prefers sun but I have grown it successfully in partial shade with the flower stalks rising to 15” (38cm). H. micrantha has a hairy leaf stalk and lower leaf surface. H. glabra is largely hairless. Both have thin flower stalks, making the blooms look as if they are floating in the air. Roots of Heucheras have long been used as a styptic for cuts and sores to stop bleeding, hence the name “alumroot”.

This brief introduction to the native plants in our area helps expand our sense of the neighbourhood we live in. When out walking and you suddenly recognize a familiar plant and say, “Oh, hello. I know you.” It’s like finally meeting someone you’ve always lived next door to in the larger lobby of the West End.

Bibliography:

Kruckberg, Arthur R. and Chalker-Scott, Linda, 2019. Gardening With Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Third Edition. University of Washington Press.
Pojar, Jim and MacKinnon, 1994. Plants of Coastal British Columbia Including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. B.C. Ministry of Forests and Lone pine publishing.
Vitt, Dale H., Marsh, Janet E. and Bovey, Robin B. 1988. Mosses, Lichens and Ferns of Northwest North America . Lone Pine Publishing.