Why plant that tree?

Why are we doing this? As in, what's the motivation behind propagating trees and shrubs that are valuable to humans? 

I think it's worth teasing out a definition of what I mean by valuable here, because in reality, all trees are valuable to humans, let alone the greater than human world, which is far far bigger than our little human lives. For an example, let's examine a Common Juniper, or Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). It’s a common tree in our area, often seen growing in shallow soils and old fields. It bears edible berries (though I’ve read some different opinions on that) and has a pretty reddish pink wood grain that is quite soft and easy to carve. The scent of Red Cedar is very distinct and very pleasant. It can be used for building chests, similar to White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis), the scent helping to repel moths. I could leave it there, those three immediate “uses”. But dive a little deeper and we learn it is the preferred shelter for dozens of song birds, a food source to those birds, both through berries and the countless insects that call the tree their home. It often grows in poor soils and indicates limestone or shale bedrock. Red Cedar concentrates calcium around its root zone, depositing in the upper soil, creating the perfect habitat for earthworms, who require a specific level of calcium in the soil, that in turn do their work of recycling organic matter into rich topsoil. Because Red Cedar requires full or close to full sun levels to grow, it is often shaded out in later successional stages. It is a archetypal "pioneer" species, that by making its living lays the grounds for other species to thrive in time. The threads of this tapestry life are woven tight, and in a pattern we can only begin to follow.

So while the uses for humans might be limited (though there are plenty more than the three I listed, be assured!) these plants have mighty connections with many other beings, and could hardly be called useless. All that being said, we aren't propagating Junipers here, because there are other trees we see as having more direct yields to be planted in the perennial garden or homestead landscape. With a finite amount of nursery bed space, we have to be (somewhat) discerning in the amount of species we are trying to grow.

I strongly believe any tree is a good tree. Even our most vilified arboreal relations, like European Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) here in Eastern Ontario, might be doing work beyond our understanding. It is an undisputed “invasive” species, readily moving in to disturbed habitats and forest edges. You have to give it credit for being a tenacious plant who is really good at growing. I was interested to learn that in addition to allelopathic root exudates, soils in European Buckthorn dominated areas tend to rise in concentrations of carbon and nitrogen beyond that of “normal” soils, causing faster leaf decay, potentially resulting in bare patches of soil. This sets ideal germination conditions for European Buckthorn seeds. The flip side to this might be a rebuilding of soils. Perhaps the adaptive strategies of this species may result in long term repair of areas with heavily compacted soils or diminished top soil because of previous land uses. That, in addition to its spiky and unwelcoming form (as in, it is hard and scratchy to walk through a Buckthorn thicket, you know what I mean if you've done it!) give me a sneaking suspicion that perhaps Buckthorn is, though perhaps inadvertently, acting as a protector of abused land. Keep the humans away! Most of Eastern North America has been heavily logged at least two or three times, often more, so the “native” ecosystems “invasives” like European Buckthorn are growing in are already majorly altered from what they were pre European contact. All that being said, I do cut down and pull out European Buckthorn I see growing on our land, and definitely do not advocate for the intentional spreading of it. European Buckthorn doesn't need our help for sure. We have been learning about making bio-char and European Buckthorn being removed from our tree line is being added to the brush to be used. More on that in another post!

I write all that because I find the changing ecologies of North America (and globally) profoundly interesting and compelling. After six hundred plus years of colonization, wide spread global trade, and seed dispersal, in my mind there is no going back to “native” ecosystems. That seems to be the consensus amongst the ecologists that I’ve read the works of too. Though I think there are many obvious “values” that native plants have. Often they can be better adapted to this land than an analogous exotic species (obviously, having thousands more years being home here), at least climactically speaking. There are complex relationships that have grown over millennia between insects and plants and fungi and other animals that exotic species may lack if they are just dropped into the landscape. However, to try to build our food sovereignty and self- and community-reliance, I believe it is an incredible gift to draw upon the genetic and species diversity available to use as a result of globalization and the migration of plant prologues around the world. 

I’ll try to regain focus here… There’s a lot to explore around exotic and native plant interactions. While the broader ecology of naturalized introduced species is incredibly important and interesting, I want to explore more the intentional planting or propagating of species in the garden landscape, which is what we are trying to do here with this nursery. Providing stock for forest gardens, orchards, homesteads, suburban yards, anywhere someone is choosing to plant a tree, shrub, or perennial. 

So the question becomes, “what plant should I choose?” In each of our choices is a lifetime of biases, cultural influence, personal preference, and, hopefully, earnest humble decision making based on evidence and intuition. Here is a bit of my process in choosing what plants I want to grow here at our home and in the nursery. I start with choosing a food and/or medicine bearing plant, but that is simply because I think food sovereignty, edible landscapes and providing food for ourselves and community is valuable. I also think diverse plants are valuable. So I decide, well, maybe I can plant multiple plants in a guild or relationship, rather than a solitary museum-like specimen. So I want multiple plants that can function and thrive together. These means that I choose species that can grow and produce in the shade, species that have varying morphology that might grow well together. I also think low maintenance reliably bearing plants, along with some higher maintenance plants that have higher quality yields, are valuable. And then there is a plant I read about one time, and another one I saw growing at a friends forest garden, and a cool native species…. Which leads me to choosing dozens of different trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials! The limiting factor ends up being acquiring seeds or cuttings. We have quite a few stock plants we are waiting to produce seed so we can expand our offerings.

That’s kind of my process when I am thinking about what plants to grow, both for sale in our establishing nursery, as well as to plant around our land and gardens. The trees that are valuable to me to propagate and introduce to the land here are first and foremost directly useful to people, as in they have a direct harvestable yield (food, medicine, pole wood, fertilizer, etc.). More often than not, perennial food plants serve a variety of these functions. It also just so happens a lot of these plants don't grow near us, even the ones that are native. So, we are propagating them, establishing stock plants so we can share these species to be planted in many more places while also enjoying the abundance they have to offer. I also see plants that are beneficial to the larger ecology of my garden and beyond as being incredibly valuable, such as plants that hold fruit throughout the winter to feed birds, or early and late season nectary plants. Having plants that attract and provide habitat for wildlife (particularly birds and insects), can bring a garden closer to being a functional ecosystem, with natural pest controls being of high importance. 

After reading, re-reading, and re-reading Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier, spending lots of time thinking about, researching, and hands on experience with permaculture and perennial food systems, I’m convinced of the necessity to incorporate many lesser known or uncommon edibles into our gardens to increase the diversity of yields, functions, and relationships within them. Having low maintenance, vigorous and abundantly producing trees and shrubs along with higher maintenance plants like apples, pears and cultivar plums just seems like a no-brainer to me now. The importance of support plants (nitrogen fixers, dynamic accumulators, as well as plants to use to make fertilizers etc.) is also now at the forefront of my vision of how our forest garden and landscape develops.

Another note on some “uncommon” edible perennials. Many of these plants have been used by our ancestors for thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years, being part of their sustenance and livelihoods on this Earth. I think it’s wise to try to incorporate them back into our diets and learn how to interact with them, especially knowing we as a species have a deep relationship and reliance on many of them. It is an honour to try and reforge our part in that relationship with these plants.

Beyond all that explanation and theory, it’s also just fun and rewarding to plant many different types of fruit and nut trees. Countless species and varieties exist, and approaching perennials with a spirit of play woven into the work is nourishment to me. There is literally a life-time, more, of learning that can spring out of even a small forest garden plot. Our journey here is still very much in its infancy.  

Terran