Bella Vista gardener focuses on native plants
Bella Vista Garden Club member Lou Jasper spends plenty of time working with her garden, though at times it may be hard to tell where her garden ends and the wilderness begins.
The air feels incredibly fresh and the scent is pleasant, while birds can be heard singing in all directions.
Jasper said she got interested in wild plants as a child.
“My father was a fisherman and a hunter and things,” she said, “and sometimes I would get bored fishing and pick wild flowers,” she said.
One plant in her garden, the bladdernut tree, brought back some memories. The tree has seed pods that eventually dry out and become noisy, she explained.
“My father would always, when I was little, rattle one and say ‘I think there’s a rattlesnake.’”
The garden itself includes, for the most part, native Arkansan plants like Red Buckeye, Pawpaw, elderberries, Bluebells, Beauty Bush, Possum Haw, Celandine poppies, wild Ginger, Bloodroot, Ninebark, Dogwood, native irises, wild plums and native ferns to name a handful. There were Trilliums, she said, though the deer made a snack of them.
It’s important for people to understand that while native plants are growing throughout the area, anyone interested in keeping them in a garden should do their research and buy their seeds from a supplier who raises plants from seed. Removing a plant from its habitat, she said, can disrupt that habitat for other nearby plant and animal life.
Moreover, she explained, the plant may be in a specific type of habitat that it cannot function well outside of. Researching habitats can help potential gardeners understand whether their garden is ideal for the plants they want.
These plants, she said, are relatively easy to care for, typically doing well with seasonal rains and weather. Moreover, she said, they help to support local and migratory wildlife, which she’s a big fan of.
“I guess I plant them for the birds,” she said, noting that several of the berries in her garden go to hungry birds.
She also has brush piles, she said — which aren’t pretty but do give smaller birds a place to hunt insects and hide from hawks — as well as a few tree snags, dead trees that have been cut off relatively high. The snags, she explained, make great homes for woodpeckers and insects.
Trees provide good shade for people and perches for birds, while flowers give Jasper something to look at. And the sheer variety in her garden, she said, means there’s almost always something in bloom.
Moreover, she said, the flowers often spread with a little help from local creatures. The poppies, for instance, are scattered through the garden because of their seeds being spread by squirrels and other animals.
“This is a whole ecosystem down here,” Jasper said.