June 19 - July 3 -FI Newsmagazine Fire Island PlantingPage 7 Fire Island Newsmagazine - June 19 - July 3
'FIRE ISLAND
PLANTING
Shown In foreground is the low plant, Dusty Miller.
by Paul Stoutenburgh
There are two schools of thought about
plantings on Fire Island. One is that you
bring what seems to do good at home over to
The Island and make your summer place
something like your year -round home.
The other thought, which has more appeal
to me, is that you make your summer home
truly a summer home with native plantings.
It makes sense to most of us to use the
plants that have already adapted to the area
and shy away from the exotics. Exotics are
plants that you introduce and are not found
i growing naturally. Plants that have grown
naturally on The Island are called in-
digenous plants.
Common sense tells us that whatever we
plant must be able to tolerate the salt spray
from the ocean and the extremes of hot and
cold found here on Fire Island. Unlike soil
on the mainland, Fire Island soil is sandy,
and steps must be taken to make the sandy
soil acceptable, particularly at first planting.
To do this you have to add organic matter of
some sort to the sand. This can be anything
from scraps from the table to seaweed from
along the shore. Or, if you prefer, you could
add peat moss bought from a nursery. When
you add these materials to the sand, you not
only make it more fertile, but you also give
the sand the ability to hold water which is so
important during hot summer days.
Of course, Af you are just going to plant
Dane Grass to prevent erosion, you don't
have to do any of this as it does quite well in
plain sand. Needless to say, in the beginning
it will do better is we give it some of the
above attention. Small plugs of this all
important grass can be bought in quantities
from any good seaside nursery. Dune grass
should be the basic planting for most of Fire
Island. Not only does it do well in most
sandy areas, it also requires little care once
established. Besides giving the area a natural
look, it also does the important job of
collecting sand and preventing it from being
blown away. It's what made Fire Island in
the beginning and without it there would be
no Fire Island as we know it today.
Knowing the importance of the dune grass,
we can now move into other native plants
used in landscaping. Dusty Miller, an
escapee from Asia long ago, can be found all
along the Eastern Seaboard and makes an
excellent low planting for walkways and
entrances. It has a long tap root, and like so
many plants in hot, sandy areas, once
established, it never needs watering, even
during the hottest weather.
One of the best ground covers you can get in
the sandy conditions here on The Island is
Bearberry. This low - growing green mat has;
small creamy - colored flowers in the spring
that turn to crimson red berries in the fall.
They're not too palatable for humans, but
they make excellent food for wildlife. This
Plant might be a bit difficult to get
established but once established it will give
you a tight green cover.
In growing roses, if we want them on the
beach, one should use the rose most in-
digenous to the area. The easily -grown Salt
Spray Rose or Rosa Ragosa fills this niche
nicely. The rugosa is maintenance -free and
grows vigorously on the beach. In the fall the
rose hips or seed pods are an excellent source
of Vitamin C and can be used to make some
of the finest jams and jellies.
Another bush we'll want to include in our
plantings is the native Beach Plum. This
plant was mentioned by the Pilgrims as
being abundant and lush all along the sandy
areas of our coast. It has beautiful white
flowers in the spring and if the weather is
good and the flowers are properly pollenized,
you'll be rewarded with lush purple plums in
September for the famous Beach Plum jam.
As for trees, planting on Fire Island is
somewhat limited, but the Red Cedar or
Juniper may do well in protected areas. It too
is indigenous to the area and can tolerate a
certain amount of salt. It's a handsome
evergreen and will grow when given room.
Along with the Red Cedar, the Japanese
Black Pine is suggested for seaside plantings
and will do well under harsh conditions,
even though it is not indigenous.
Of course there are other plantings besides
the ones mentioned above but the ones we
speak of are basic. What we must learn is to
utilize these native plants because in the long
run they will require little attention and gig•
your area a natural look that a summer p)•
on Fire Island deserves. And so, if it's w
relaxed summer you are looking for, start
with the plants that require little attention
and already have proven themselves on The'
Island.
Help keep Fire Island natural by using
plants that have been here from long ago.
Remember, Fire Island is a unique and
beautiful place. Let's help keep it that way.
A good free booklet — "Conservation Plants
for the Northeast" is available through the
Soil Conservation Service, 127 East Main
St., Room 101, Riverhead, N.Y. 11901.
Paul Stoutenburgh is a retired educator, a
columnist, and a Park Service naturalist.