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Native Plants Journal 8.2 (2007) 77

From the Editor
R. Kasten Dumroese

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It's late June and a beautiful day here on the Palouse, the region of eastern Washington and northern Idaho characterized this moment by rolling hills bathed in a billion shades of green. Spring and winter wheat, garbanzo beans, lentils, peas, and barley wave gently in the breeze. As the sun sets, the shadows on the hills add a wonderful texture to the scene. A century ago this land was covered by Palouse Prairie, one of the richest, in terms of plant diversity, biomes in the world. Here in Moscow, Idaho, I suspect the prairie was integrating into shrub-steppe habitat dominated by hawthorn with stringers of ponderosa pine. Not too much farther to the east, the conifer forest dominated. Unfortunately, there's not much left of the Palouse Prairie. Fortunately, I have the honor of owning a remnant piece of the past.

I'm sitting on my deck overlooking that nice, but small, north-facing remnant of Palouse Prairie. The flowering season is coming to an end, but the lupines and cinquefoils are hanging in there, as is the sticky geranium. A few gaillardia add a splash of color. Spikes of Idaho fescue and blue-bunch wheatgrass are nodding. Black-headed Grosbeaks are singing their warbling mantras from the treetops, Orange-crowned Warblers are sulking in the hawthorn, and Brewer's Sparrows are cheerfully doling out their vibrant buzz-y singsong that goes on and on and on. It's hard to concentrate on editing the proofs of this behemoth of an issue, but the company I'm keeping is making the job tolerable. Sometimes it's a good thing to step back and actually enjoy, from the core of our being, the natural world that makes us do the jobs we do. It's doubtful any of us went into the nursery and seed business to get rich; we do what we do because we love what we do. Aren't we lucky?

You hold in your hands our fourth Native Plant Materials Directory. It's an evolution in progress, and I know we still don't hold the perfect recipe. But I do know this is the most up-to-date directory available, and I hope you find it useful. Also in this issue are the other things you expect to see: some great how-to articles and some quality research. If you ever wondered about propagating Arctostaphylos from cuttings, Borland and Bone provide explicit directions. How about producing a North American cycad? Check out this low-tech method. As I write this, wild fires are raging in the western US. Read about the effects of chemically made firebreaks on plants. Perhaps woody invasives are preventing you from seeing the native forest—we have a great review article on the most pervasive woody invaders in the eastern hardwood forests and a companion article on how to get rid of them. And, if wetlands are your passion, read about propagating a common emergent.

As always, enjoy the issue and tell your friends about Native Plants Journal.

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