What Is Native?

Coreopsis auriculata

As I continue to plan and plant my native plant landscape, I find myself especially diligent about the plants I add. The tendency is to want everything that is both beautiful and useful ecologically. It is a mistake to try to add everything and to get sidetracked adding things that somehow appear out of nowhere and that were not part of the original plan. Though it is always good to remain flexible, new additions must meet your criteria and be real additions to what you've already planted.

Some of this is further compounded by the fact that there is a debate about what constitutes being native. For the past several years, I have watched my small population of eared tickseed (Coreopsis auriculata) slowly multiply and I transplanted them into pots prior to my move to my new home in Holiday. I love this diminutive coreopsis. Its foliage remains green throughout the winter here and stands only several inches above the soil surface - making it a wonderful ground cover. Its flowers are 3-4 inches across, bright yellow and glossy to the extent that they almost look fake. Over time, it forms a mass of individual plants that brighten up a moist sunny area. The problem lies in its nativity.

Eared tickseed is not listed as a Florida native on the site I most use to determine these things - the website supported by the University of South Florida's Institute for Systematic Botany (ISB), though other sites reference its occurrence in the Florida Panhandle. After some sleuthing, I've found that its occurrence in Florida is based on one population discovered near a powerline right-of-way and that this population has since been destroyed. Essentially, eared tickseed was extirpated in Florida. It is common in the states north of us, however. The plants I originally purchased from a Florida native plant nursery had to have been grown from the seed of Georgia or Alabama plants. Does this plant then become a non-native?

There are those in the native plant movement here that would argue that any plant grown from plants (seed or cuttings) beyond a 50-mile range of my landscape are not native either. They would limit the concept of nativity to ecotypes naturally found close to my home and they would certainly disapprove of species I have added both here and elsewhere that do not occur naturally in my region. My Washington and little hip haws (Crataegus phaenopyrum and C. spathulata, respectively) occur in Florida, but only within Panhandle counties more than 150 miles away. Even though I have grown little hip haws for nearly 30 years in various landscapes near here without any supplemental inputs, some would argue that they should not be considered "native" nor part of my "native plant" landscape. I disagree with that rigid stance, but it seems immaterial really because these plants are an integral part of my plan to install a living landscape and they thrive without the need for supplemental irrigation, fertilizer or pesticides. 

Using plants that were once native to Florida, but have since been extirpated compounds that question of nativity. My eared tickseed is just one example of native plants being propagated from stock that originated outside of Florida. I recently added a skyblue aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense) to my landscape.  This is another species common to states north of Florida, but not considered to occur naturally here though documented in several north Florida counties. A number of South Florida natives commonly propagated now in the trade have been reintroduced to Florida from Bahamian populations. The question of their nativity then is arguable.

The debate over what constitutes a true native plant is likely to go on well into the future and past my brief time on earth. To my mind, it is somewhat irrelevant. We can argue nativity and what that actually means, but in a landscape the real questions center on ecological roles. I have planned diligently to create a living landscape here at my new home in Holiday and that plan is centered on using plants native to Florida. I'm just not so rigid that I will ignore wonderful species that will add to my diversity while thriving without the supplemental inputs of water, fertilizer and pesticides that most of my neighbors rely on to keep their plants healthy.  Some so-called native plants that originate from outside my region have failed consistently in my experience working with them - butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), for example, but others have prospered. It is always best to use stock that originates close to your planting area, but sometimes this is impossible. My advice is to experiment with plants that meet your ecological plan even if there are those that question its nativity. After all, the goal is not to create a "native plant" landscape as much as it is to create a living one. Let others debate whether your plantings are native or not.