Understanding Ecotype Plants and Their Importance in Gardens
The push for locally sourced seed.
Did you know that the native red maple tree you bought from your local nursery in Minnesota may have originated with a clone collected in Florida? Or that the native meadow seed you planted likely was collected in the Midwest, even if you live in New England?
Does that matter? Yes, says Sefra Alexander, an agroecological educator with a master’s degree from Cornell University. Over millennia, truly local plants have evolved to flourish in the local conditions and to harmonize with the local wildlife, she explains. Scientists call these locally evolved plants ecotypes.
Sefra, who has travelled the world collecting seeds, points out that when we use local ecotypes, we’re more likely to produce plants that bloom precisely when their local pollination partners need them.
In the case of monarch butterflies, for example, local milkweed ecotypes flower when the butterflies are migrating through their area. Planting non-local ecotypes may cause the butterflies to linger amid late-arriving blooms, making them more apt to encounter weather extremes when they finally do depart for their winter breeding grounds. Alternatively, non-local ecotypes may produce a premature bloom that peaks before the butterflies arrive. Neither scenario benefits the insects.
Unfortunately, nurseries do not typically advertise the provenance of the native plants they sell, and too often locally sourced native plants are just not available. Sefra, also known as the Seed Huntress, is hoping to change that, beginning with a program she is coordinating for the Connecticut chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association: the Ecotype Project.
Begun in 2019, the Ecotype Project pursues a complete cycle of preserving and promoting locally sourced native plants along the lower Connecticut River corridor—Ecoregion 59 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency map. The cycle begins with botanists collecting seeds of 17 species of local wildflowers, a process that is carefully supervised to avoid stressing the remnant wild populations. These seeds are then planted out in “founder plots” on organic farms across the region.
The plants in the founder plots flower, and when their seed ripens it, too, is collected. This step typically involves several visits, because it is important to gather seed with the widest range of genetic types; that means taking it from early-, late- and typical-blooming specimens.
The harvested seeds are cleaned and processed with equipment maintained by the Northeast Organic Farming Association, with the finished product made available to growers through a farmer-led collective known as eco59. Some of the seeds go to farmers to plant their own pollinator habitats, others to gardeners and members of pollinator-pathway groups, and still others to local nurseries that grow them into salable plants.
Sefra believes in celebrating good work. She has publicized the Ecotype Project with annual “BOATanical expeditions,” in which she takes a party of citizen scientists paddling down the Connecticut River with a cargo of ecotype plants to plant along the shores, either reinforcing wild populations or creating new founder plots. Although she has travelled far and wide in pursuit of plants, she wants to make the point that you don’t have to fly to the Himalayas to mount an expedition. There are plenty of opportunities for exploration and botanical (and BOATanical) adventures in your own back yard.
In a similar vein, Sefra hopes that the impact of the Ecotype Project will resonate far outside Ecoregion 59. Pollinators, gardeners and farmers could benefit from similar efforts in any area of the country.
“What we’re really trying to do with the Ecotype Project,” she says, “is create a replicable model for ecoregions everywhere.” The Connecticut group provides a “Getting Started Tool Kit” with protocols for seed saving, growing and more, which could help similar projects get off the ground. They also share tips for planting and thumbnail guides to the different wildflower species included in their founder plots.
For more information about the Ecotype Project and Sefra Alexandra’s adventures as the Seed Huntress, listen to our conversation on the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Growing Greener podcast.
Image credits: Penstemon digitalis by Mike Kestell/CC BY 2.0; Seed jars courtesy of the Ecotype Project.
