Summer 2023 Newsletter Edith J. Carrier Arboretum at James Madison University

Dear Friends of the Arboretum,

As we move into summer next week, I am feeling so grateful for this long drawn-out cool spring weather. Given the smidgen of rain that we've received here the past couple of months or more, we are blessed to be having such low temps at night and during the day. Our staff are busy watering regularly and managing the irrigation. Hopefully next week we'll move out of this dry spell. In the meantime, it is lush and green here and is always a peaceful getaway from the hustle of your day.

Please know that we are working on a long overdue project of getting thoughtful wayfinding and trail markers in place, along with updating our educational signage by the end of the year. Our next piece to be added is shown below to replace the Welcome banner up at R-5 Parking Lot entrance. Look for this to be installed sometime before the end of summer.

Did you know that comfrey leaves are full of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and make for a wonderful addition to your veggie and flower gardens?! They are very deep rooted plants and pull up a whole array of minerals as well, especially magnesium and calcium. Some claim that if you use comfrey wisely you'll never need to buy fertilizer again. It is considered essential when growing edibles under a permaculture style of management.

Whether laid directly around your tomato/pepper plants or added to your compost pile they will provide deep nourishment to your soil. There are recipes out there for making fertilizer tea and slurries out of the leaves if you are interested. I love this plant for it's medicine as well but caution gardeners about growing it unless you're prepared to keep up with it's aggressive qualities. It reproduces like crazy and before long you have an over-abundance of plants that you will need to keep up with. If you want to grow comfrey, I recommend that you try the cultivar, Bocking 14, known as the Russian comfrey, Symphytum × uplandicum (has white flowers) as it's sterile and will not reproduce seeds like the standard comfrey plant.

The Arboretum has extra comfrey plants and valerian plants in the herb garden if anyone is interested in digging some young plants up and bringing them to their garden in exchange for a couple hours of gardening help in our herb garden. Please contact Janis Traas, traasjm@jmu.edu to pick a time to come some morning and help us keep up with your herb garden. We are looking for harvesters of the herb garden, Herb Gleaners Group to come and help us weekly/monthly. See the link to sign up: https://www.jmu.edu/arboretum/support/volunteer.shtml. We are grateful for your gleaning help!

Good news in Virginia.....two new laws are in effect: Delegate Bulova’s HB 2096 requires the state agriculture board to develop a list of invasive plant species, and includes provisions to discourage their use. The bill directs the board to develop regulations requiring commercial designers and installers to notify property owners of proposed use of any plants on the state’s invasive plants list. Because plant retailers and customers often do not know which plants are invasives, the requirement to provide information allows customers to make better choices. The bill also prohibits state agencies from planting, selling, or propagating the plants except for scientific or educational purposes. It also authorizes the board to adopt regulations for permits to move, transport, deliver, ship, offer for shipment, sell, or offer for sale any invasive plant.

Delegate Krizek’s HB1998 directs state agencies to prioritize native plant species and to take steps to identify state properties for native plantings and prepare guidance to rehabilitate state properties degraded by invasive species. Because the state owns many large properties, such as universities and prisons, the bill would expand native plant habitat. It also provides the state the opportunity to set an example for responsible environmental stewardship by enhancing its properties’ habitats with native plants that serve Virginia wildlife.

So Why Is This Important? Non-native plants were introduced into the United States intentionally or accidentally by people sometime after Europeans first arrived in North America. Many are important food crops or ornamental plants that do no harm. But many are harmful invasives, non-native plants that can spread out of control and overwhelm and displace native vegetation. They can spread dangerously because they have no natural predators in our ecosystem. Even if an invasive plant appears to be “under control” in a private yard, its seeds can spread and invade nearby parks and wildlife areas. Native plants co-evolved with local wildlife and provide the best food value to them. An area overrun with non-native invasives is a food desert for native wildlife that depends on native plants to survive.

Chickadees provide a good example of that dependence. Research shows that unless a yard is at least 70 percent native plant material, it cannot support even one family of chickadees. Chickadee nestlings depend on caterpillars to survive, and caterpillars eat specific native plant species, like the oaks, birches, and cherry trees. No native plants (or trees) means no caterpillars, and that means no birds. Our native wildlife is losing habitat not only to development but also to encroachment by invasive plants, and habitat loss is the largest cause of the decline of North American birds.

The annual cost of invasive plant species in the U.S. is estimated to be $35 billion. (Swearingen and Fulton, Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas, 2022, p. 10). Current Virginia law identifies only 14 plants on the state’s “noxious weeds list,” but the list of invasives recognized by the Department of Conservation and Recreation is much longer. Common invasive plants in Northern Virginia include English ivy, running bamboo, Bradford pear trees, tree-of-heaven, oriental bittersweet, privet, porcelain berry and stilt grass. Virginia law allows the sale of most of them, and they have invaded our parks and reserves. Change, like what is called for in the Bulova and Krizek bills, is sorely needed.

Other good news: Virginia became one of the first states in the eastern US to create a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan this past April........this plan connects vital wildlife habitats, reduces dangerous vehicle accidents and represents the largest crossings for large mammals on the east coast. It seems that the project will focus on elk habitat in SW VA, but of course many animals will be assisted by the crossing even the focus is adding to restored elk habitat in Virginia. https://dwr.virginia.gov/elk-cam/

Cheers for summer solstice almost upon us.....the longest day of the year!

Jan Sievers Mahon, Arboretum Director