Taking Cues from Nature's Design
By TOM DRESSER
Native plants are the keynote of the landscaping at Up-Island
Cronig's in West Tisbury. There is woodland with viburnum, beach
plum, winterberry and high bush blueberry, as well as aroria and
shadbush. An intermittent wetland can be found by the parking lot drain,
where beetlebung, shadbush, iris and joepye weed flourish. Native pine,
sheep fescue, inkberry, switchgrass and little blue stem grow on the
edge of State Road.
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2005/09/27/content/carlos_montoya_sm.jpg" In short, the property is a testament to the Vineyard's rare
sandplain grassland habitat.
Sitting on a stoop with the architect of this landscape, Carlos
Montoya, one senses his appreciation for native plants. He plucks a
strand of little blue stem and rubs it between his fingers. "Very
adaptable," he says. "It's a warm season grass,
indigenous. It isn't brown like the lawns around here."
Mr. Montoya operated a landscape business and Pitch Pine Nursery in
West Tisbury for 13 years. He sold it this summer because the nursery
and landscaping distracted him from his true calling. "My
specialty has always been native plants, but there's just nobody
else doing it, so there's not even that much awareness of what can
be done with native plants," he says.
He smiles ruefully, adding: "It's a stretch to get
anyone to go native."
Mr. Montoya's goal is to preserve and protect the globally
unique environment on the Vineyard - in particular the sandplain
grasslands, which are characterized by open, grassy plains with
scattered patches of low shrubs and ground cover plants.
"I'm focusing on the main actors among grasses, sandplain
wild flowers and woody ground cover such as bearberry and low-bush
blueberry," he says.
Grassland habitats support high concentrations of rare and
endangered plants and animals. It has been estimated that over 90 per
cent of the worldwide acreage of sandplain grassland habitat occurs on
Nantucket, Tuckernuck and the Vineyard.
Mr. Montoya's knowledge on the subject is encyclopedic.
"Little blue stem is kind of the core grass of the sandplain
grassland," he says, adding the historical note that the seed
originated in the prairie states. "Somewhere along the line, with
weather running from west to east over the years, different conditions,
higher humidity, sand, salt and wind from the ocean, created an end
result that is different.
"Environment has a very pronounced effect on plants in the
short run, and even more so in the long run," he adds.
"Darwinian adaptations [take place] over centuries, with plants
that started from seed in the Middle West over the years converting
themselves." Butterfly weed and New England blazing star also have
prairie state ancestry, and are distinctly different from their Midwest
cousins.
Even within the Vineyard landscape, certain plants are indigenous to
specific sites. Stiff aster is unique to Aquinnah Circle, New England
blazing star is exclusive to Chappaquiddick and there is a sole moor or
heath on Moshup Trail.
Mr. Montoya recently read a report that confirmed his views about
the origin of the habitat on the Island.
He said it explained "how the sandplain grassland got
established, considering that it was originally forested. Those
sandplain grasslands began and were able to sustain themselves in land
that had been worked agriculturally by white men. The agriculture area
became fallow and became the nursery site for the seed babies, probably
in the 1800s. It happened progressively."
As the sandplain grassland evolved into a forest through natural
succession, the habitat for the heath hen was eliminated and the little
guinea hen became extinct, he said. The Vineyard is now about 80 per
cent forested.
Mr. Montoya strives to replicate the sandplain grassland by
encouraging propagation of native plants.
"I have confidence soils and plants will regenerate and the
sandplain grassland will take off. Seeds are opportunistic and take
advantage of the situation," he says. He waves at the plants he
raised from native seed; they are taller and fuller than many plants
that grow in the wild. "I give them TLC and regular irrigation,
native soil."
He also is actively working to spread the message among others in
the industry.
"I work with landscape architects to make them aware of the
beauty and unique quality of native plants, and environmental
consultants to consider the impact of allowing unlimited forests or
unsettling the land," he says.
Of landscape architects in particular, he adds, "If
they're excited by the subject and believe it's beautiful
and the right thing to do and will make their client happy, then
they're going to spec it in.
"The truth is that only people with enough discretionary
income to do something dramatic can talk about converting two to three
acres of wooded land into sandplain grassland. Little blue stem would be
the perfect meadow because it'd be at its tops in the hottest
weather, just when you're there."
Mr. Montoya also thinks government should be involved in the
perpetuation of the Island's unique habitats.
"I think the towns need to take more leadership in the role of
protecting the Vineyard. They need to make the native plants
available," he says. "In Aquinnah the goal is to preserve
the native and wild character of the town and to make sure that the
globally unique areas are not disturbed."
He already has made his mark up-Island. "I called up the
Chilmark library and said I'd like to donate a demonstration
native garden. Now they have a very long expanse of native plantings in
front of the library. That's what I need, so people can see native
plants through the season." He plans to do the same at the
Aquinnah library.
As for his landscape design at Up-Island Cronig's, he says it
is already doing its part to raise awareness and generate interest:
"I can't tell you how many times people say,
‘What's that plant I see at Up-Island
Cronig's?'"
Copyright ©2005 Vineyard Gazette
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