r/nativeplants

Located zone 6b, Connecticut. Edge of the woods.

We live at the base of a mountain and, as we remove invasive and allow the property to send up volunteers, we are seeing many blackberries and raspberries pop up.

Im not sure they are all native and trying to sort it out but this one, in particular, looks nothing like the others (dark red thick not round stem/stalk), big pointy thorns and it's growing alone at the base of a tree wi[ big arching canes compared to the smaller thinner stalked white stemmed berry bushes that I found elsewhere.

Can anyone help identify?

Inaturalist suggests Allegheny Blackberry. If so, is that considered native?

One of the many native plant sites I read said that most blackberries are not native and can be invasive.

This one is a bad spot (above my pups gravesite and blocking a path), so of native, I'd probably move it.

If not native, I'd happily get rid of it.

I don't see this one anywhere else on the property. Any advice is appreciated!

I recently moved onto 1.5 acres where the “lawn” is a mixture of native and introduced species. for example there’s white clover, blue pig root, dandelion, cranesbill, Carolina ponysfoot, hairy buttercup, Japanese clover, blue eyed grass etc. I would like to scratch up a big area and add native seeds for a meadow type feel. One day I imagine large swaths of meadow with paths mowed through it. Big fan of anything that supports the pollinators and other wildlife. Does anyone have a recommendation for where to buy a good NC native seed mix by the pound (or 1/4 pound)? Can be mix of perennial and annuals.

Thin-leaved peavine is endangered in Washington and is known to exist in just one county (Lewis County). A farmer captured it in bloom next to camas at his organic farm.

I have a native sumac planted in this large planter. Picture 1 is the entire planter with a sprout circled. Picture 2 is a closeup of the sprout. Picture 3 is a closeup of the part of the canopy.

I can’t tell if the circled sprout is new growth from the sumac or something else…I’ve narrowed it down to walnut. The foliage on the sprout isn’t serrated like that of the canopy, but that’s the only differentiator I’ve noticed so I don’t feel confident pulling the sprout out for fear of damaging the sumac.

What do y’all think? Did a squirrel bury a nut in my planter or is this new growth from my sumac?

[effacé]

anyone know what this disease is? should I cut back my plants to prevent spreading to rest of my garden?

I shall try to not make a habit of this, but once in a while I think it’s nice to compare Northern Hemisphere Geraniums with Southern Hemisphere Pelargoniums. Especially when there is a botanical story.

At the weekend I visited a friend’s medieval physic/herb garden.

One plant in flower was a UK native - Geranium sanguineum, or Bloody Cranesbill.

It’s hard to see in the photo but the flowers have red veins giving its Latin name sanguineum (“blood-red”).

But its common name comes from its medical use of treating the “bloody flux” - what we’d now recognise as severe dysentery.

Under the old Doctrine of Signatures, plants resembling a disease or symptom were thought to treat it.
So a “bloody” plant for “bloody” diarrhoea made intuitive sense at the time.

There is some science too:

Bloody cranesbill contains significant amounts of tannins—compounds that:

- Tighten and contract tissues
- Reduce secretions
- Help constrict small blood vessels

In a condition like dysentery, where the bowel is inflamed, bleeding, and producing frequent loose stools, this would:

- Reduce diarrhoea
- Help limit bleeding
- Soothe irritated intestinal lining

It also has weak antimicrobial activity.

But remember this is medieval science - experimentation where doing nothing would be fatal so you might as well try.

Plants are a wonderful source of medicine because nature and evolution have found ways to synthesise chemicals.

But modern medicine is an extension of medieval medicine - researching better and better treatments. Modern herbology and homeopathy arent. Best stick to medically prescribed treatments for things as serious as the bloody flux.

Maryland zone 7a. It's a small woodland perennial known for its shiny green leaves and clusters of tiny, fragrant white flowers in spring, followed by red berries in fall. It forms colonies in cool, moist, shady forests across North America, spreading via rhizomes, and is also called false lily-of-the-valley.