This retrospective episode consists of previously aired short segments that have been compiled here as they all relate to a common topic. It’s called Good Plant/Bad Plant because each segment focuses on two plants: one that support pollinators, birds and other animals and one plant, or plant group, that is an invasive or noxious weed.

In this episode (Part 1 of 3), Master Gardener Volunteer, Tim Kennelty, covers native species like oaks, monarda, serviceberry, and willows. But he also advises against invasive species such as Japanese knotweed, Japanese stiltgrass, Asian bittersweet, and Asian bush honeysuckle.

In the first segment, oaks (genus quercus) and Japanese knotweed are put under the microscope. The mighty oak refers to the many oak trees that are native to New York. Oaks can grow to about 100 feet and can live from 200 to 400 years. Oaks are generally relatively easy to grow and thrive in well drained acidic soil in full sun. They're really beautiful, majestic trees, often with attractive fall foliage in shades of red, gold, and orange. Oaks support more than 500 different caterpillar species, which of course turn into butterflies and moths, but are critical food for young birds as well. And they produce acorns that are eaten by squirrels, deer, turkey and other birds.

If the oak is the king of beneficial plants, the queen of invasive plants is Japanese knotweed. It can grow from three to 15 feet and has bamboo like stems. Knotweed thrives in disturbed areas like drainage ditches, wetlands, streams, woodland edges, and along roadsides. It spreads rapidly through underground rhizomes. Knotweed forms dense thickets that crowd out and shade native vegetation, reducing species diversity while also adversely impacting ecosystems and wildlife. Management includes repeated cutting, and most likely will require herbicide application.

The second segment in this episode focuses on monarda and Japanese stiltgrass. Monarda didyma, known by a number of different common names including bee bam, Oswego tea and bergamot, is native to eastern North America. It is a great addition to butterfly gardens and bird gardens. By contrast, Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) is a widespread invader of woodlands, roadsides and trails. It is an annual grass, but a prolific seeder, that germinates in the spring and dies back each fall. Once introduced, it is extremely difficult to remove from a site.

Serviceberry and Asian bittersweet are featured in the next segment. Amelanchier spp. is a native North American shrub that is sometimes grown as a small tree. There are many species of this native that grow in full sun to part shade, have small five-petalled white flowers that emerge before or at the same time as the leaves, and have small edible berries that darken to a deep reddish-purple to black when ripe. Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) is a woody, deciduous, perennial vine has since naturalized and become an extremely aggressive, capable of damaging natural areas. It chokes out desirable native plants by smothering them with its dense foliage and strangling stems and trunks.

Willows and Asian bush honeysuckle are the conversation topics for the last segment in this episode. Most, shrubs and trees of the Salix genus, are mostly native to north temperate areas and are valued as ornamentals, as well as for their shade, moisture control, and wildlife attributes. By contrast, invasive bush honeysuckles originated in Eurasia and Eastern Asia, and were introduced in the U.S. for ornamental landscaping, erosion control, and wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, bush honeysuckles self-seed aggressively and rapidly escape into natural areas. Although the fruits have poor nutritional value for wildlife, birds disperse them widely. Native vegetation is displaced as bush honeysuckle blocks sunlight and exudes chemicals into the soil that are toxic to other plants.

Learn more about these plants on this episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley. Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3 of this Good Plant/Bad Plant Retrospective series.

Host: Jean Thomas

Guest: Tim Kennelty

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski

Have you ever given serious consideration of the limited value of traditional suburban lawns? Sure, they add a certain beauty to the landscape, but is there a better way to incorporate more native plantings to our lawns? Are their native lawns that could become alternatives to the typical field of turf grass that creates a monoculture that is not supporting of pollinators?

Todd Bittner, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, joins the Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley podcast to share his perspective on more environmentally sustainable Native Lawns.

As the Director of Natural Areas for the Cornell Botanic Gardens and a Lecturer in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University as well as today’s guest, Todd Bittner furthers our understanding of natural systems, environmental sustainability, and natural resource conservation, management, and use. The Cornell Botanic Garden’s natural areas program is responsible for the protection and management of a system of preserves spanning nearly 3,600 acres across 40 natural areas. As part of Cornell’s educational mission, the natural areas include examples of the natural community plants and the rarest plant habitats in the New York’s central Finger Lakes Region. The holdings include one-third of Cornell’s iconic campus landscape, including two massive gorges, scenic Beebe Lake, and a renowned wildflower garden. Todd leads the organization’s native biodiversity conservation efforts, while facilitating compatible educational, research, and recreational uses across these outdoor classrooms.

Native Lawns, or lawn alternatives, are a designed plant community that, when compared to traditional turf grass lawns, require minimal mowing and watering, no pesticides and fertilizers, yet more biodiversity to support pollinators and other invertebrates. In the research being conducted by Todd Bittner, the goal of the native lawn was to be aesthetic, able to handle a moderate amount of trampling, and require minimal hand weeding as well as to address the environmental objectives (minimal watering, mowing, chemical supplements, etc.). There was also a desire for native plants to comprise at least 85 percent of the land area. Plant species were selected that are suitable for both full sun and shady as well as wet and dry conditions Danthonia spicata and Danthonia compressa (poverty oat grass) are dominant in the planting. Penstemon hirsutus is also widely planted. Twenty nine native species have established spontaneously from the adjoining natural area or seedbank, including a number of violet species, several woodland asters including calico, heart-leaved, and frost asters, and Lobelia siphilitica, or great blue lobelia, which is a very attractive valuable pollinator species. Tune into this episode to hear what has been learned over the last 15 years in moving towards a more environmentally sustainable native lawn.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Todd Bittner

Photo by: Cornell University CALS

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski

Chris Bowser is a professional educator and environmental scientist with experience in citizen science, estuary and river monitoring, conservation biology, and fisheries science. Part of Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he coordinates a team with NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program and Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve. He joins the Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley team with a passionate discussion about the Hudson River Estuary.

An estuary is defined as the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream. If you think of New York’s Hudson River, this covers a lot of territory.

According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, estuaries are among the most productive of Earth's ecosystems. Native Americans discovered the Hudson's bounty thousands of years ago; evidence of their existence remains in heaps of oyster shells on its shores. Hudson and Dutch traders wrote of a river teeming with striped bass, herring, and giant sturgeon. More than 200 species of fish are found in the Hudson and its tributaries. The estuary's productivity is ecologically and economically valuable to much of the Atlantic Coast; key commercial and recreational species like striped bass, bluefish, and blue crab depend on nursery habitat here. Bald eagles, herons, waterfowl, and other birds feed from the river's bounty. Tidal marshes, mudflats, and other significant habitats in and along the estuary support a great diversity of life.

The Hudson River Estuary has one of the largest concentrations of freshwater wetlands in the northeastern part of the United States. It has also been found that due to climate change, the rising sea levels have led to an increase in the area of the wetlands.

Chris brings the Hudson River to ‘life’ not only talking about what can be found within it, but also about the wide range of programs to adults and children to help everyone become more acquainted with its value to our broader ecosystem.

Hosts: Jean Thomas and Teresa Golden

Guest: Chris Bowser

Photo by: Teresa Golden

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski, Robin Smith