IU promotes native plants

Working with local conservationists and greenhouses, this year IU graduate students promoted landscaping with plants native to Indiana rather than invasive plant species.
The students collaborated with Monroe County Identify and Reduce Invasive Species and its Go Green, Grown Native! initiative to create materials educating the community about the effects of invasive species and promote the benefits and sales of native plants.

The materials have since been implemented at Mays Greenhouse, a local garden center and nursery on the south side of Bloomington.

The partnership was part of biology professor Heather Reynolds’ course, “The Ecology of Place,” last taught in spring 2013. Establishing relationships with local ecosystems is important to understanding the ecology and land of that location, Reynolds said.

“Through the collaboration, students are drawn more deeply into the local ecology of Bloomington,” Reynolds said. “Students appreciated the opportunity to take their learning out of the classroom through work with conservation professionals on applied issues.”

Ellen Jacquart, chair of MC-IRIS, said invasive plants are non-native species that cause economic and environmental harm to an ecosystem where they did not originate. They might also cause harm to human health.

These plants can easily move from yards and consume wooded areas, Jacquart said, adding many are used in landscaping around Bloomington because they’re visually appealing.

About 86 percent of landscaping plants are invasive species, she said.
“The surprising thing is that the majority of the invasive species we’re fighting against were deliberately planted by someone,” Jacquart said. “There are better choices.”

Native plants are a better option in landscaping because they save money and help maintain soil, Reynolds said.

“The reasons for these benefits of natives trace to the fact that they have evolved in our local ecosystems and are thus adapted to climate and soils and are integral members of the local plant, animal and microbial communities,” she said.

Natalie Christian, who took the course, said she learned using native plants for landscaping benefits the environment by attracting other native creatures such as birds and butterflies.

“People’s yards are part of our ecosystem,” Christian said. “By planting native plants, it creates habitats for them to live in and breathe in.”

Kimberly Elsenbroek, a graduate student who also took the class, said she learned about the impacts of invasive species in Bloomington, including in forests like Latimer Woods and Dunn’s Woods.

Elsenbroek said she has worked to remove invasive species such as bush honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle and wintercreeper, and in their place, planted
native species like tulip poplar, spicebush and redbud.

“That helped us directly understand the project we were promoting to the greenhouse,” she said.

Elsenbroek said she and her fellow students created a sign system and guide pamphlet at Mays to help customers distinguish the native species from the invasive ones. The native species had green signs and the invasive species had red signs, she said.

Jason Fulton, nursery manager of Mays, said although it’s too early to measure the effects of the students’ project, he did enjoy the collaboration.

“I found them all a pleasure to work with,” Fulton said.

Reynolds said “The Ecology of Place” will be offered again in spring 2014. She said anyone interested in the course should contact her or her co-instructor, James
Capshew.

Follow reporter Alyssa Schor on Twitter
@SchorAlyssa.