By Dr. Wilf Nicholls

As we enter year 2000, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are celebrating the 1,000-year anniversary of the Viking arrival at L'Anse Aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island. In fact, recently, it seems like we've had celebrations every year; in 1997, we commemorated John Cabot's arrival from England 500 years ago, and 1999 marked the 50th year of confederation with Canada. That's not to say that Newfoundlanders are living in the past, far from it; it is their history, knowledge, hard work and pride in the past that has this province looking with optimism to the future.

     Much of Newfoundland's identity stems from centuries of hard labour, often in poor conditions and for barely subsistence wages while the wealth accrued to businesses abroad. Hopefully, this is a thing of the past and I hope all these economic indicators that show Newfoundland heading towards prosperity are right. Certainly, the horticulture industry is taking off here and I, for one, am looking forward to the ride. As a new CFA ("come-from-away") that has lived here for just two-and-a-half years, I have quickly grown to love and respect this smiling, windswept land and the people who live here.

     In the past, simple homes of working families had little time for horticultural niceties and in most cases, a garden meant cabbage, potatoes and turnip with varieties that they or their relatives had brought from Europe perhaps generations before. Where flowers were grown, these too originated in Europe and needed to be tough. The climate may not be as cold as the prairie but our cool short summers, almost constant wind and long winters of freezing, thawing, ice storms, etc. really put our plants through their paces. St John's, classed as zone 5 based on minimum winter temperatures, really reveals how inexact an impression of climate we get from zone numbers.

     But don't think for one minute that there aren't superb gardens in Newfoundland. It is quite the opposite; there are gardens here that date back 150 years or more with plants that have stood the test of time and weather. Like many horticulturists I am always on the lookout for the new, the unusual, the one-of-a-kind plant but, as we head into this third millennium, we should be careful not to lose our history, and that includes plants from which our modern varieties have been bred. Interest in these old varieties is seeing a worldwide revival, while here in Newfoundland, they never went out of style and continue to flourish. Maybe it's time to reintroduce them back into mainstream horticulture.

     The Botanical Garden at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) proudly displays a collection of these plants in its Heritage Garden. A few are thought to date back to the 1600s but most have confirmed documentation to the 19th and early 20th century. These are not seed-grown replacements but are divisions of the original plants - plants such as Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Plena'. With several common names (including Fair Maids of France, Fair Maids of Kent and White Bachelor Buttons), this beautiful white buttercup came to us from Trinity, NF to where it had been first brought by a whaling captain in 1830. The sterile double white flowers are some of the first to open in the spring and when visitors smirk and ask if anything is hardy enough to grow in our conditions, we usually point at our Fair Maids and ask them if 170 winters is hardy enough!

     Trinity is a wonderful little town on the Bonavista Peninsula and was home to the first court in North America in 1611. Though some houses are gone, evidence of their gardens remain. Red and white rugosa roses grow on headlands and forest edge where they still produce prolific quantities of golf-ball size hips, so important as a vitamin source back then. And although they may be 100 years old, these roses are free of the mildew, black spot, canker and aphids that plague our gardens today. Sure, my hat is off to the rose breeders that develop the gorgeous varieties of today but the brilliant white and heavy scent of 'Blanc Double de Coubert' (often called the Newfoundland rose) is tough to beat as it holds up an old fence of a long-since-abandoned garden.

     Another common plant poking up through the weeds is Aconitum x cammarum 'Bicolor' a dramatic one- to two-metre high monkshood, with blue-fringed white flowers that belie its toughness. Equally tough and another tenacious resident from the late 1800s is the dusty pink monkshood Aconitum napellus 'Carneum'. You don't need to bother staking this plant; its hard, woody, meter - tall stems bearing glossy dark green leaves can stand up for itself in the face of a howling Newfoundland gale.

     Landscape Newfoundland and Labrador (LNL) is a young trade organization that is responding to, and, in turn, helping to foster a dramatic rise in gardening interest here. Double-digit increases in annual sales have become the norm for several companies but, apart from home-grown annuals, most perennials and nearly all woody plants are imported from the mainland. However, in accordance with the optimistic outlook on the future, growers here are looking to turn this tide. Can we make use of our fabulous resources in hardy native plant materials? Can we make use of our tried and tested heritage plants, many of which are now rarities? Can we create a vibrant new horticultural industry here?

     I say yes we can - but we'd better get a move on. The interest in the historical plants described above plus forms of Filipendula, Delphinium and Rudbeckia in our collections is strong but we must act now to reintroduce these. The native species of Newfoundland and Labrador also represent a wonderful resource that needs careful but immediate evaluation for horticultural potential.

     The 1300 species that make up our flora is a fascinating melange of arctic, eastern, southern and European plants. One can find alpines at just 300 feet on sea cliffs, bog plants growing in rock crevices in salt spray, and over 30 species of orchids. There are acidic rocks on the east coast, limestone on the west coast and frequent serpentine outcrops. Within this flora are myriad of species and varieties waiting to be discovered, responsibly propagated and delivered to Canadian horticulture; therein lies our goal as a partner in the Newfoundland and Labrador nursery industry.

     Native shrubs hold some great promise for our industry. Not only do we have excellent flowering species but fall berry crops are magnificent. The berries of Newfoundland are a masterpiece of colour, texture and toughness - be they ornamental, edible and often both. Three species of Viburnum are native here. V. edule and trilobum (known locally as the squashberry and high-bush cranberry, respectively) are familiar to most people. Their stunning wine-red fall foliage and clear red berries are underused in our gardens and parks. Even less used is V. cassinoides (or northern wild raisin), which is a real pity. This nicely proportioned deciduous shrub has leathery dark green leaves, flat heads of cream flowers and trusses of berries that change from a salmon-pink through blue and then black, while the leaves turn fire-red. Hardy and unaffected by pests, this shrub is just waiting for some selection work for it is extremely variable in the wild. Also awaiting a closer look is our native rose (Rosa nitida), which is described in Hillier's Manual as "a charming dwarf shrub." Found over much of the northeast, this species is happy in surprisingly wet conditions; in Newfoundland, it is a common denizen of bogs! Beautiful deep pink flowers, good hips, clean foliage and dark red stems make this species well worth a try in a naturalized landscape.

     Native groundcovers put on a great show across this province. Coastal headlands are carpeted with crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) but at higher elevations you may find the choice E. eamsii or rockberry. Difficult to distinguish from the black crowberry for much of the year, E. eamsii is a delight with an abundance of dusty pink berries in the fall. More common and showing excellent ornamental promise is a number of Vaccinium macrocarpon (American cranberry) and V. vitis-idaea (Partridgeberry) selections now under evaluation. You may know it as the lingonberry but beware, Newfoundland has a different common name for almost every plant out there! Reverting back to universal Latin names does have its advantages.

     Knowledge of Newfoundland's native flora is still being gathered. With our low population and its concentration in coastal communities, much of the island is still to be investigated. Just three years ago and a mile from the Botanical Garden, a road construction crew found a new orchid for North America. Was this healthy population (recently surveyed at over 3,000 plants) of Dactyllorhiza a disjunct population of a European species or was it a garden escape? We may never know but one thing is for sure - this orchid is easy to grow and in foliage or in flower, it is superb. This plant has all the makings of a great introduction as soon as we have nailed down its rapid propagation.

     The Great Northern Peninsula is particularly fascinating with its expanse of limestone barrens and serpentine outcrops. Choice and rare endemics abound here and so does potential for our industry, for this is not a place for digging but a place for research, responsible collection, cultivation and propagation at our nurseries. Carpets of herbaceous potentillas can be seen along with gentians, saxifrages and anemones. Even on the beach one can find delights like the seashore soldiers-and-sailors (Mertensia maritima) which, under cultivation in a container this year, looked like a blue-leaved hosta.

     This combination of heritage plants that have become rare in our landscapes, under-used native plants just waiting for some selection work, plus a breeding program now underway at MUN Botanical Garden make the future bright and exciting for this small but expanding nursery industry. Keep your eyes, ears, plus a small spot in your gardens open for some new plants from Newfoundland. We're looking forward to a colorful future.

Wilf Nicholls is director of Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is open daily, May to November and is situated on Mt Scio Road, St John's, N.F.