Things YOU Can Do To Protect The Natural World Around You
ENCOURAGE GROWTH OF NATIVE MASSACHUSETTS PLANTS IN YOUR BACKYARD
PLANT NATIVE PLANTS IN YOUR YARD
Help For People Who Want To Go Native
Have you ever gone to a nursery looking for native plants but found out that "native" can mean grown anywhere in the United States? Or have you purchased a native plant, planted it in your yard but discovered too late that you planted it in a wet area when it needed a dry spot?
We're here to help you:
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Select plants indigenous to the southeastern Massachusetts pine barrens region
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Find out where to obtain indigenous plants (coming soon)
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Plant them in the correct location (coming soon)
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Help your plants thrive (coming soon)
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Find answers. Contact us with all of your native questions at friends@friendsmssf.com
Why Go Native?
Why? Because planting plants indigenous to southeastern Massachusetts' pine barrens will help preserve and sustain our regions' unique ecology, which includes many rare and endangered plants and animals. It's also good for you and good for the community. Here's why:
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Native plants do not need watering once they are established; more water remains in the ground, in the Plymouth-Carver Aquifer, which supplies water to ponds and lakes in the region and is the source of our drinking water. If you pay for water, planting native will save you money. Read more about the Plymouth-Carver Aquifer
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Native plants need little fertilizer; saving you money again and reducing the harmful chemicals entering the water supply and degrading the environment.
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Native plants are not usually as susceptible to diseases and insect infestations as non native plants. You save money again by not spending it on insecticides and chemical treatments.
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Once you restore your yard and allow it to return to a natural pine barrens habitat, you'll find you can spend less time doing yard maintenance. You'll save money again because you won't have to keep replacing plants you bought that don't belong in the challenging environment of southeastern Massachusetts, and you'll be supporting the native birds who need native plants to survive.
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Consider this too: southeastern Massachusetts has a special character. Why spoil the "nature" of a rare and endangered ecosystem by tearing out the beautiful native foliage and replacing it with mass-produced grass, shrubs, plants and flowers genetically manipulated to grow in as many environments as possible? Do we really want our special place to loose it's unique appeal?
Planting native preserves the character of place. When people come to Plymouth, Wareham, Carver or Kingston, let them experience our different kind of beautiful! Go native!
SIGNATURE PLANT OF PINE BARRENS
Beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.)
Let it grow!
ENCOURAGE GROWTH OF NATIVE MASSACHUSETTS PLANTS IN YOUR BACKYARD:
Signature Plants of the southeastern Massachusetts pine barrens. Pictures and information from Salicicola.com
wild raspberries and blackberries
hickories, white and pitch pines, junipers, sassafras
BEST CHOICES FOR PINE BARRENS
Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia L.)
Plant it!
PLANT NATIVE PLANTS IN YOUR YARD
Your best choices are plants native to our state. You don't think they could be an asset to your home? Think again! Here are just a few examples:
Canada, wood, and Turk's cap lilies
PLANTS DESTROYING PINE BARRENS
Barberry (Berberis thunbergii DC.)
AND GET RID OF THESE OFFENSIVE ALIENS ASAP!
BAD FOR PINE BARRENS
Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis.)
Tear it out!
PLANT WISELY! MAKE EDUCATED CHOICES AT THE NURSERY
Beware! Some highly invasive plants are not yet banned from the nursery trade. They will escape from your lot and take over natural areas and reservations:
Vinca and Pachysandra
Please don't use Vinca and Pachysandra as groundcovers, especially when your property borders a natural area--or else you may create a disaster, like this, in the neighboring forest:
Don't just buy anything that looks pretty. Do your homework! Research your choices yourself. GO NATIVE!