"...I couldn't pass up a chance to riff with fatplant..." That was why I asked what I was missing. Although I've heard a lot of info that I've disagreed with over the years from others, I was baffled at what you were saying. It didn't sound at all like you! ;~) "...my whole family is saddened by the very visible effects logging has on our community." ' I, too, have been horrified at the logging going on around me! :~( It was all but shut down, until 'shrub' campained his "Healthy Forests" scam up here. I can be arrested if I collect Cyps, Darlingtonias, etc, but it's acceptable to run over them with a Caterpillar! Virtually all of the fishing streams are protect from fishing, but it's fine to fill them with silt from the logging runoff. It's all being sent to Japan anyway and doing the locals no good, especially in the long run. It's like trying to protect the "Golden Goose" and being out voted by the other geese!:~( "I collect natives for my personal collection and for conservation." Good for you!! :~) I have no problems with responsible stewardship! Someone has to do it. Most of the horror seems to come from those that are just professional protesters and don't actually do much. You do know that 'shrub' has added mining, officially, to the list of forest activities. I'd rather have logging any day!;~) If you're interested, I added a link to a set of photos of my local SW Oregon natives that I've found. Here is a link that might be useful: Native Orchids/Plants

Tinasam, Sorry you have to put up with discouraging posts! I think your articles could be very useful lists for people searching for information on native plants. My only comment is that they are a little hard to read because of the constant page breaks, and the layout of the page means the text doesn't flow too easily. You could bold or highlight the names of the native plants to make them easier to spot in the article. Good luck!

I emphatically disagree with seraphima. Of course you could survive on natives. People have done it for most of their history on earth, when we knew nothing about agriculture! People have been around for 200,000 years, and agriculture has only been known for the last 10,000 years. Although most people here would not know edible natives beyond a few berries, it's because they simply don't know the native plants. You could survive on a vegetarian diet here with natives. It would consist of berries, fresh in summer and dried in winter, roots of camas and ferns year round, greens of fireweed and salmonberry in the spring. You can even eat the inner bark of trees in a famine. Of course, this is assuming you only mean using the plants. The native peoples here ate a lot of fish because it was very abundant and easier to get than plants. The main problem with surviving only on natives is that it would be BORING! Common garden vegetables come from all over the world - potatoes and tomatoes from south america; carrots and broccoli from europe; apples, onions and lemons from asia. How much of your diet comes from the tropics? I know a lot of mine does. In comparison to all this diversity, of course only eating natives would be boring. But that doesn't mean you couldn't survive perfectly well on it.

Thanks for replying Floral, but, if I knew which kind by name, I could likely find it. I just know it's a North American native, it's native in Pennsylvania, where I live, and I had actually purchased it before, and planted it, but, I think I planted it too deep or something, but, the roots were so short, but, anyways, it isn't likely to come back up. But, REALLY, it's too early to say for sure, but, I want to get more plants anyway. It's a shade loving thick bladed Pa native Carex plant. I've seen it growing wild in the mountains not really far from me, after I first saw it I ordered and planted it, which is the planting I reffered to above where I may have planted it too deep. So, you may not know it as far as it growing in the UK, but, hey, it may for all I know, but, I do kinda doubt that it does, at least naturally, but, I bet if introduced it would love moist woodland soil in the UK, unless it needs a different PH soil.