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Extreme gardening in times of extremes

Posted on September 13, 2007March 10, 2008 by Staff


Rosinweed (Silphium compositum)

By Johnny Randall
North Carolina Botanical Garden

Natural plant distribution and abundance are largely dictated by the climatic extremes rather than by averages. Our current extreme and killing drought will likely cause a habitat shift in many areas: The plants that can tolerate the drought will remain and possibly expand their territories and those that can’t will perish and find themselves restricted to the more mesic (moist) sites.

Extreme drought is not beyond the genetic memory of many of our native plants, whose ancestors made it through equally harsh times. Within the more recent Piedmont geologic history, during the Hypsithermal period (between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago), prolonged drought and high temperatures caused an expansion of prairie and a contraction of forests across North America. Piedmont North Carolina still houses refugees from this period in specialized habitats and on roadsides, power-line clearings and other managed rights-of-way. These mostly shade-intolerant herbaceous roadside attractions are coming into their own here at the end of summer and are particularly prevalent in the county. But keep your eyes on the road! These plants are also adapted to fire and buffalo grazing, but that’s another story…

So in this time of a seeming climate shift to warmer and drier conditions, consider extreme rather than average gardening. The average high temperature in Carrboro for September is 81 F (with 4.5 inches of rain). The extreme temperatures for the same period is 102 F (1953) and 36 F (1990)! If we paid attention to these numbers when selecting plants, our cultivated landscapes would probably look quite different.

It is also important to consider from where your landscape plants come. For most species, there are ecotypes or individuals that are adapted to particular local environmental conditions. That’s why it’s better to have a Baptisia grown from locally-collected seeds than one grown from seed collected in the mountains or New England. For a list of plant nurseries that typically grow local stock, please visit the North Carolina Botanical Garden’s web page (www.ncbg.unc.edu) for “Recommended Plant Sources for Native Plants,” or come by the garden for the booklet and visit our own plant sale area. See the list below of plants that are adapted to drought, but please see a more complete list on the garden’s web page.

Celebrate and take advantage of the Piedmont prairie-like flora’s genetic memory. And let our natural history guide your fall plantings and the way you regard that patch of weeds along the roadside.

Plants adapted to Drought

WILDFLOWERS

  • Asters (Aster/ Symphyotrichum grandiflorum, S. concolor and S. pilosum)
  • Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida and R. hirta)
  • Blazing star (Liatris spicata and L. squarrosa)
  • Goldenrods (Solidago rugosa, S. pinetorum and S. odora)
  • Maryland Golden-aster (Chrysopsis mariana)
  • Milkweeds (Asclepias tuberosa and A. verticillata)
  • Rosinweed (Silphium compositum)
  • Sunflower (Helianthus atrorubens)
  • Thoroughworts (Eupatorium rotundifolium and E. hyssopifolium)
  • Wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)
  • Yellow wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)

GRASSES

  • Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus)
  • Giant plume grass (Saccharum giganteum)
  • Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
  • Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
  • Splitbeard bluestem (Andropogon ternarius)

Johnny Randall is assistant director for conservation at the North Carolina Botanical Garden.

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