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NEW PLANT VARIETIES NEEDED FOR NEW MILLENNIUM
A goal for the new year (and new decade, new century, and new millennium) should be to select and plant more variety in our landscapes.
The street I lived on in Minneapolis for 20 years lost most of its elms to Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s. If white and red oaks, maples and hackberries had been planted on that street in the early 1900s along with the elms, some stately old trees would still be standing there today.
In recent decades, numerous housing developments repeated the earlier single-species mistake by relying exclusively on ash trees, many of which have proven susceptible to storm damage and various diseases.
Along with ash trees, landscapers and developers have surrounded homes with a predictable mix of juniper, spirea and Colorado blue spruce, resulting in entire streets where one home landscape is indistinguishable from the landscape next door.
We need more variety in our home landscapes, and one organization that is doing its part to provide more plant options is the Landscape Plant Development Center (LPDC) in Chanhassen. The LPDC is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 that is devoted to developing improved landscape plants tolerant of insects, diseases and environmental stresses.
Under the direction of Dr. Harold Pellett, the LPDC is comprised of horticultural researchers at 80 different institutions scattered across North America, Europe and Asia. By working cooperatively, the researchers share a common goal of developing superior landscape plants that are tolerant of environmental and biological stresses.
To develop new plants, the LPDC uses plant collections of the cooperating research sites to make desired crosses. Parents are chosen to combine potential tolerance to various stresses with desired aesthetic qualities. The first generation hybrids are grown in a location with a favorable climate (e.g., Oregon). When these plants reach maturity, seed produced from random pollination is collected and plants of the second-generation population are grown at sites in different climatic regions. Well-adapted plants with good landscape characteristics can then be selected in each region. Dr. Pellet says this cooperative approach enables breeding and selecting plants adapted to many different climates with different growing conditions.
Current LPDC projects involve improved varieties of ornamental pears, Asiatic maples, bush forms of clematis, and viburnum.
In 1998, Dr. Pellett explored a region in Kazakhstan with a climate similar to Minnesota. He collected seeds from maples, oaks, birch, hawthorn, honeysuckle, pear, peashrub, Russian olive, cotoneaster, plums, cherries, viburnum and shrub roses, all of which will be grown, evaluated and used as breeding stock to create new improved varieties of landscape plants. Many of these Kazakhstan plants are very drought and cold resistant, he said, which makes them highly desirable to LPDC researchers.
The LPDC has recently launched a capital campaign to fund future research. If you would like to contribute money to the campaign or learn more about the research, contact the LPDC at 612-4453-2460, ext. 735.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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