From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] The Effect of Cultivars on Native Species Gene Pools
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:20:59 -0500
Not only food crops but ornamental, facer, foundation, windbreak and visual
screening
landscape plants. A solution is to design residential and commercial
landscapes using permaculture methods
which would ensure the use, often, of native species when there is negligable hybridization risk with non-natives.
Another example would be homestead use of the ornamental cultivars of eleagnus, a highly desirable and useful shrub and
the possibility that they could hybridize with the various native variieties, same for many other native plants that
have been bred for ornamental use. Search PFAF for eleagnus and see how many native varieties there are, how they differ
and their uses. Some of the nutritional and medicinal ones are quite valuable.