I've just had a pergola built over my deck in Carrboro, NC. As our daytime temperatures reach over 100 degrees for the third time this summer, I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to sitting under my new pergola with its soon-to-be-installed ceiling fans and Coolaroo UV blocking exterior shades.
I'm a Carolina girl, born and raised, and you'll forgive me if I daydream about serving my guests cocktails and dinner by candlelight at a garden party under my new pergola, on my mother's china and table linens, with ceiling fans spinning slowly overhead. Ah believe ma southe'n accent got thicka just thinkin' about it but...I digress...
There are many non-native plants which were brought to our region by surely well meaning folks who simply wanted a beautiful, exotic garden. English Ivy, for instance. As the local Southern States garden shop employee told one of my neighbors; "Ivy is the gift that keeps on giving. You better hope all your neighbors want ivy if you plant it!"
If you live in North Carolina, or any other southeastern state, and you aren't already thinking "Kudzu", you haven't been paying attention. Brought to the USA from Japan in 1876 for a gardening exhibition, it was widely planted during the Depression to provide erosion control. Kudzu planted in North Carolina is the very definition of an invasive plant. Growing up to a foot a day in the summer, it is a common sight along our highways as it chokes out native forests and tugs on overhead power lines.
So it was with appreciation that I read that Carrboro, NC has decided to update it's zoning rules list of invasive plants which cannot be included in new plans submitted by developers. Not to worry. This is not intended to tell Carrboro residents what they can and cannot do with their own property. Rather it is a step toward bringing some intelligence to the process of deciding what kind of plants we should be propagating in Carrboro.
The invasive plants list is based upon continuing work by the North Carolina Native Plant Society and includes rankings of plants as severe threats, significant threats and lesser threats as well as watch lists. But the NCNPS website isn't just a DON'T DO IT list. It also provides valuable information about native plants and how planting them honors our regional heritage as well as providing food and shelter for our local wildlife. I would encourage anyone interested in planting a garden in any part of the Triangle to consider using only NC native plants.
As for the image in my mind of a garden party under a vine covered pergola...I can just as easily see a native climbing Hydrangea fitting into my daydream. I'm willing to keep an open mind when it comes to recreating my heritage. Thank goodness because I can't really see myself in a Scarlet O'Hara dress on a hot summer evening, even if I am sipping sweet tea.
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SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential real estate professional in the Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina with over 60,000 hours of experience. She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home sellers, home buyers and investors in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Northern Chatham County and is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors, the Carolinas #1 independent realty company.
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