permaculture

["Eugene F. Monaco" <EFMonaco@compuserve.com>]

Without getting technical, I can share my experiences with sumac.  For the
past three years I have been living with a piece of earth in E. Tennessee,
practicing my caretaking skills.  The sumacs are everywhere but were
threatened by the wild roses which seem to be an alien species bent on
taking over the meadow.  My innervision told me to beat back the roses to
let the more native sumacs thrive a bit; they seem to have a restorative
quality to them.  This I did last spring; and the sumacs did indeed thrive.
 I learned from a mentor about making tea from the berries which tastes
lemony and I'm sure it is high in vitamin C.  The birds also feed on the
berries all winter.  Last summer I became aware of the Paw Paw which tends
to be found as an undercanopy tree below larger oaks, etc., and also on the
edge of a clearing.  I transported one from the Ohio Valley farther north, 
to an area I thought would be good.  Then walking around I noticed a patch
of young paw paws out in the open but just inches under the meager canopy
of the sumac.  So we have sumacs acting as a canopy for paw paws.  Well if
that don't beat all I ever heard around these parts.  Mutations maybe?

Gene Monaco

>I have 'inherited' a young sumac (Rhus glabra). It is not native here (in
Ireland) so I don't know about the plant species it would be associated
with in its natural habitat in the Eastern US. I'd like to underplant it
with something at least resembling its 'natural partners'. Grateful for any
comments.<