New England is even farther away than Williamsburg. Although I have never been there, I sometimes think that some of the vegetation here resembles vegetation there, particularly as foliage and berries get colorful during autumn and winter. Autumn is a bit later here, and does not last as long. The associated color is relatively subdued. There are not as many colorfully deciduous trees. I do enjoy showing off what we get though. There is so much more to California than boringly evergreen palm trees and redwoods; and redwoods happen to make an excellent backdrop for New England style fall color! I will brag about various palms later.

1. Rio Grande turkey was intentionally naturalized here a long time ago, but only began to invade local home gardens since about the 1990s. To me, they look like they belong in New England.

2. Lantana camara makes these weird black berries, which the turkeys are not interested in. Just like turkeys, colorful (or just black) berries in autumn remind me of gardens in New England.

3. Moss, which had been rather grungy and brown through late summer, is now rich and vibrant green from rain last Wednesday. I suspect that moss such as this is common in New England.

4. Tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, is native to neither Maine nor New Hampshire, and was extirpated from its two native counties in Vermont, but is native to other parts of New England.

5. Flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, is coincidentally extirpated from the same two counties in Vermont that tulip tree formerly inhabited, and is also native to other parts of New England.

6. English holly, Ilex aquifolium, is from England, which is the original or Old England. It is naturalized here. Just like the other five of these six, to me, it looks like it belongs in New England.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate:

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

11 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: New England?”

  1. Tony,
    You definitely have it right. As a resident of the “frozen north, ” as I like to call my part of New England, it does look like most of what you showed (I am trying to think about the lantana berries. We grow that here in containers, but I think maybe our closest berrying shrub would be inkberry holly, which is native for us and makes black berries).
    But the wild turkeys, the moss, the dogwoods and holly–that’s absolutely New England!

    Karla

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    1. People in other regions tend to underestimate the diversity of California. California is a big place, and is bigger than several states in the East that would include significant diversity as well. Also, the mountains separate many different climates. The chaparral climate that I am familiar with is only a few miles away, on the other side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. On the coastal side of the mountains, the climate is much rainier and much more densely forested. Although I do not know much about New England, I suspect that much of the flora that lives there could live here also.

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    1. I think that the best places to find a turkey is in a freezer, in an oven, or on the dining room table. I am not so keen on such flocks roaming the neighborhood to shred colorful berries, bloom, and whatever they can find. They tear shingles off of some of the older buildings. My former neighbor knew how to select a good turkey. They all look about the same to me.

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    1. I suppose that English holly is . . . well, ‘English’. Also, there is probably more moss in England than there is here. Except for the lantana from Central America, the rest are distinctly American. English gardens certainly have a way of growing a lot of exotics.

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