THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504060121
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
FEW PEOPLE TODAY have the time or money needed to maintain a formal, European-style landscape. As a result, many gardeners have switched to more natural, relaxed-looking yards that use a variety of ``beneficial'' plants.
In this area, such a style is sometimes called ``BayScaping'' because of the ecological benefits such landscapes provide to the Chesapeake Bay.
BayScapes are environmentally -sound landscapes that benefit people, wildlife and the Bay. BayScaping advocates a holistic approach, built upon a natural landscape using only ``beneficial'' plants.
Beneficial plants are well-adapted to local climates and soil types and require minimal maintenance - little trimming, watering, fertilizing or treating with pesticides.
Beneficial plants begin with ``native'' species. Even botanical experts disagree on a definition for a native plant, but the BayScapes philosophy defines a native plant as ``a tree, plant, shrub, vine or ground cover that would have been present when Christopher Columbus discovered America.''
As rain washes over the land, it carries nutrients and chemicals from yards that end up in storm drains and ground water and ultimately in the Chesapeake Bay. Because beneficial plants require little fertilizer or pesticides, their use in the landscape reduces pollutants carried by rainwater. By planting beneficial plants around your home, you make a meaningful contribution to the restoration of local waterways and the Bay.
Billy Mills, BayScapes program director for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, says spring is a crucial time, because that's when yellow perch, river herring, shad, striped bass and other fish leave saltwater for spawning in the rivers adjoining the Bay. This is when runoff of pollutants can be especially damaging to the future of fish and fishing.
Beneficial plants recommended by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay include:
Deciduous shade trees: Sourwood or Sorrel tree (Oxydendrum arboreum); Blackgum or Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica).
Evergreen screen tree: American Holly (Ilex opaca).
Deciduous accent tree: Shad Blow Tree or Downy Sericeberry (Amelanchier arborea or candadensis); Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus).
Evergreen foundation shrub: Inkberry (Ilex glabra) and Juniper (Juniperus communis).
Deciduous shrub or hedge plant: Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia); Winterberry (Ilex verticillata).
Ground cover: Common Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi); Violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea).
The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay has some excellent publications on landscaping, pest control, water conservation and related garden subjects, available for a $3 shipping and handling fee. Send a check requesting this literature to Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, 6600 York Road, Baltimore, Md. 21212. MEMO: RIVER SYMPOSIUM
``The Lynnhaven River - Are We Loving It to Death?,'' a symposium for
citizens interested in the past, present and future of the Lynnhaven
River, will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 21 at the Virginia Beach
Central Library. Cost is $10 ($5 for students), including lunch.
Registration to include lunch (limited to 150 people) must be made by
Saturday; symposium only sign-up available the day of the seminar. Send
checks to Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 100 W. Plume Center, Suite 354,
Norfolk, Va. 23510. by CNB