On marketing native plants: as native plant enthusiasts, we can rail at the shortsightedness of retailers and gardeners for using more oriental poppies than atamasco lilies and purple coneflowers.
On marketing native plants: as native plant enthusiasts, we can rail at the shortsightedness of retailers and gardeners for using more oriental poppies than atamasco lilies and purple coneflowers. But let's be honest, how many of your neighbors even know that purple coneflower is a native? They are not stupid, they are simply uninformed, and it is everyone's job to do some informing. I am happy to report that at least three national programs to market native plants will be unveiled in 2006, proclaiming their presence with banners and otherwise informing gardeners that these beautiful plants are native to America. But the message that really needs getting across is that many of them make excellent garden plants. Gardeners are conservationists and proud Americans, but most of all they want the money they spend and the time they allocate to provide pleasure in their garden. We can get frustrated, or we can get moving.