The Grapevine was a column in the Wild Ones Journal written by Maryann Whitman between 2002 and 2015.
Maryann refers to her bachelor of arts degree and her graduate work in psychology as her misspent youth. When she came to her senses, she went back to read biology, botany, chemistry, physics, and ecology and has not yet stopped. She discovered Wild Ones in 1995 and was the founding president of the Oakland Chapter (MI) of Wild Ones in 1999.
Some twenty years or more ago, I was touring the Ann Arbor (MI) Flower Show, which, at the time, was like the State Fair of Horticulture. My feet were tired, and I needed to sit down, when I saw a board advertising the three o’clock talk “on wildflowers.” The speakers were a husband and wife […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2004)"
We Are Not Alone “The field of landscape design is changing, becoming more sensitive to the environment. The traditional American lawn – just ‘mow, blow and go,’ using chemical fertilizers and lots of water to keep it green – is being gobbled up by plantings of ornamental grasses; native plants are replacing bulbous shrubs.” This […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (May 2004)"
Community Outreach In this issue we are again incorporating a yellow page listing for our business members. It’s our opportunity to showcase their support of our efforts in promoting the use of native plant species in natural landscaping. If you know of a business in your area that actively promotes the use of native landscaping, […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Mar 2004)"
Stopping Slugs There are places on this Earth that support slugs and snails that are large enough to smother, with their slime, nestling birds in their nest. Most of us, however, only get to complain about our triflingly tiny, inch-long species as they decimate seedling beds and feast in our vegetable gardens. It is when […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Jan 2004)"
Confrontation with Dow’s Confront While compost is usually seen as a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers, many communities were surprised to find that their local compost supplies were contaminated with the herbicide clopyralid, making compost toxic to many plants, including asters and goldenrods. Clopyralid, the active ingredient in Dow Chemical’s herbicide Confront, is mobile in […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Nov 2003)"
Martha discovers Natural Landscaping with Natives!! The July 2003 issue of Martha Stewart Living, had a very complementary article on Lorrie Otto and her native garden in Milwaukee with excellent photographs. It included the contact information for all the Wild Ones chapters (except South Carolina’s Foothills Chapter; did they run out of space?). I wonder […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Sept 2003)"
Dune Restoration Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in northern California has a great diversity of wetland habitats in and adjacent to the Bay: seasonal wetlands, salt marsh, tidal mud flats and channels, open water, and uplands. The refuge exists primarily to protect wetland habitats for migratory birds that stop over by the hundreds of thousands […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2003)"
Ecoregions and Robert Bailey of the U.S. Forest Service Every now and then I leaf through past issues of the Wild Ones Journal (which you can do easily if you put all your past issues in 3-ring binders on publication hangers, available from Donna VanBeucken), and revisit an issue that impresses the socks off me. […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (May 2003)"
Making Friends and Influencing People Reeser Manley, who teaches landscape horticulture at the University of Maine in Orono, is launching an interesting research project in collaboration with Marjorie Peronto, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Horticulturist. Peronto and Manley believe, “Horticulturists are becoming increasingly interested in creating regionally unique landscapes that are environmentally friendly, landscapes that […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (March 2003)"
Kentucky Native Plant Symposium Portia Brown, Louisville Kentucky Chapter and secretary of the national Wild Ones Board of Directors, reports back from the Kentucky Native Plant Symposium that wild Ones Natural Landscapers was recognized favorably in several contexts. The symposium included federal, state, and local agencies as well as companies that are involved in some […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Nov 2002)"
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