This document discusses the importance and complexity of plants. It notes that plants are more than objects for human use, are responsible for atmospheric composition and mass extinctions, and are the basis for all life. While humans have altered most of the planet's terrain, plants can communicate, defend themselves, and change their environment without needing humans. The document advocates learning about local native plant communities and their relationships with other species. It suggests gardening with native plants to support biodiversity and providing habitat for insects and birds.

1. The
Fascination
of Plants

2. Based on science…the
best available method
for determining facts

3. Plants are much more than
objects for our use or beauty

4. Most people don’t know plants
They see a wall of green
Dominated by invasive plants Native plant community

5. -We need plants in every way…but they
don’t need us.
-Responsible for one of the six known
mass extinction events
-Every single cell in a plant can make a
new plant
-Plants have vastly longer life spans
-Plants have self-recognition
-Plants communicate with other species

6. -Make food out of sunlight
-Create atmosphere
-Created oil
-Are the basis, directly or
indirectly for all other forms of life
-Allelopathy

7. Plants are chemical producers
• Because they can’t run away
• How they communicate
• Defense
• Make site more suitable (change soil)
• Call other species for help
• Offense: take more territory
• Every plant wants to rule the world! (don’t
we all?)

8. Flowering plants and the animals
that use them evolved together
over millennia
Many fit together like lock and key

9. We should ask ourselves,
what is the role of the human
in the natural world ?

10. Using the Earth View app on Chrome
Shows a satellite photo of the planet
With each tab opened in Chrome:
It shows how much humans have
altered the planet in every type of terrain,
even in deserts and water.

20. Desiree Narango
Doug Tallamy
(next 3 slides
Desiree’s)

22. Basswood
American elm
Black cherry
Willow oaks
Pin oaks

23. Japanese Maples
Silktree
Saucer Magnolia
Leyland Cypress
Ginkgo
Black Poplar
Crape Myrtles

24. Chickadee study
• Star is the nest, darker blue where they
spent more time.
• No time in non native plants
• Require 5-9000 caterpillars to raise young
from egg to fledging
• How little we know our immediate
neighbors!
• They can’t give birdseed to their chicks.

25. Doug Tallamy

26. 1 in 4 plants in Canada is from
somewhere else
Environment Canada (study from the ‘90s)

27. 1 in 5 plants in the world is
facing extinction
Kew SOTWP

28. 230 species of birds in decline in N.
America
Many of them migratory
That is 30% of them
Cornell Inst. Ornithology

29. IUCN

30. IUCN

31. What makes Nova Scotia Unique?
Or any place, for that matter?

32. 100 years after sheep grazing

33. A rare, relatively pristine beach in Cape Breton

34. Outstanding fall colours of
native vegetation
…are a part of our economy.

35. The Extinction Crisis is not
“over there” somewhere.
It is right here. Some
threatened plants of our
ecology….

36. Coreopsis rosea

37. Cyprepedium regale

38. Lilium canadense

39. Who will help home remain home?
Who Speaks for nature?
-Politicians??
-Companies?
-Government?

40. Pollinators AND herbivorous
Insects

41. Moths 12,000 and Butterflies 825 (not
including Hawaii)
ALL require plants to eat
Many host-specific to particular native
plants.

42. • Quiz: what do hummingbirds eat?
• What do most birds in this part of the world
eat?
• Next slide is some of our moths, who we
destroy wholesale with our lights.
• Following slide insectivorous birds.
(by Doug Tallamy and Desiree Narango)

43. Bev Wigney

45. Tallamy

46. Oak,Cherry,
Birch, and
Willow are
keystone
species here

47. No study has shown a lack of effect on
these critical insects when non-natives
replace natives. We are finishing a
study now showing a 22 fold reduction
in caterpillar abundance and a 33 fold
reduction in caterpillar biomass when
natives and aliens are compared.
Doug Tallamy

48. Tallamy

49. Studies have shown that physical structure
in plants is also essential to the
rest of the food web.
Linda Chalker Scott
Greatly increased surface area creates
habitat for insects.
Birds and insects need food, cover, nesting
places, and defense from predators. These
come from shrubs and trees.

50. Raise your hand if you have
seen these in the wild?
Some make good garden plants,
some don’t.
Do NOT take illegally
from the wild without a permit.

51. Indian Pipe
Monotropa uniflora

52. Impatiens capensis
Jewelweed

53. Cyprepedium aucale
David Quimby

54. Non-native: Woolly Mullein
Verbascum thapsus
Will it be invasive?
-invasive in similar climates
-adaptable to soil type
-seeds live in soil 100 years
-many, many seeds
-has uses for man so is
widely planted
-escapes are noticed too late
to economically deal
with them.

55. Need to document change
Be informed on the issue
Teach others
Protect Natural Heritage

57. invasiveplantscapebreton

58. Maple
Birch
Willow
Poplar
Many species
Asian Long
Horned Beetle

59. Improving the world through your
own action

60. In bite sized mindful actions.
Right.
Here.

61. Start by Learning

62. Free resources

63. Be a naturalist gardener

73. WIN: You
Feel better about yourself
Deeper understanding of your world
Access to the latest information
Ways to link with others
A positive impact on the world
Save time and money
Dimension in the garden

74. WIN: Science (mankind)
-Better understanding of how humans
use “their” spaces
-Less destructive gardening methods
-Ecology is a “young” science
-Avert local extinction

75. WIN: Local Plants and
Animals
-Create habitat corridors for migrating
species
-Higher priority placed on undisturbed land
Biological webs continue to function

76. WIN: Our Children
Don’t ask them if they want to go outside, both of you go

77. Actions
-Prioritize unique and undisturbed areas
and protect them
-Examine how we can improve land that has been
disturbed
-Determine what we have the most control over
-Modify how we garden and live
-Return to natives, shrubs/trees
-Garden Legacy

78. Suggestions
-Explore the world of natives
-Try a few
-Diversify up and down
-Try to get genetically wild plants (from -
reputable sources)
-15’ rule
-Think about your garden legacy!

79. Keep a closed system if
possible

81. KNOW THY PLANT
• Plant lust
• Don’t go home and know nothing about it
• Research other gardeners’ experience, its
invasive potential, and its native habitat
• Monitor your property closely for change
• Research new plants that appear
• Beware of well meaning friends bearing
plants!

82. Choose plants in this order
Native genetically diverse seed
Native potted
Native Cultivar
Native regional
Non-native
“Friendly Weed”
Thug

83. Try to leave native ground if at all possible
Choose sites for projects that are already
disturbed.

92. Plan Your Garden Legacy!

93. Plan realistically for the life you have
Informal Meadow by a busy Professional wit Carpal Tunnel

94. Gardeners can be critical to
Helping save the world’s
biodiversity by:
-Learning the plants
-Learning their utility by other
creatures
-Teaching others about plants
-Growing native plants
-Some plants extinct in the
wild exist today in gardens!

95. And we need to teach that to our kids!

96. For more information focus on Cape Breton:
Facebook: Cape Breton Invasive Plants
discussion/latest info.
Cape Breton Garden and Botany Lovers science
based, beyond “pretty” gardening.
A Little Less Litter pick up an average of a couple of
pieces of trash a day (a bag if at the beach)
GROUP: Baddeck online Garden Club
Pinterest: Invasive Plants of Cape Breton,
Native Plants Cape Breton, and Weeds Common
and Annoying
photos, descriptions, eradication methods, garden worthy
natives, and garden weeds
(bird study, sign-up)