Who coined ‘nativar?’

Allan Armitage, author of “Armitage’s Garden Perennials,” horticulturist and professor at Georgia University, coined the term, “nativar,” “to show customers that the industry was offering what they wanted: garden plants developed from documented native sources, known in the scientific community as genotypes from “What’s in a Nativar?” by Carol Becker. A nativar is a cultivated variety of a native plant that has some ecological value in the environment. Nativars can be a native plant that is a genetic variant found in nature. That plant is then selected and propagated to retain a particular or unique aspect. Nativars can also be obtained through the process of artificial selection in which people grow plants with desirable characteristics and eliminate those with less desirable characteristics according to Wildones.org.
According to Ryan McEnaney, Bailey Nurseries’ communications and public relations specialist, “Nativars allow us to retain the ecological benefits of native species, while making them adaptable and accessible for a modern landscape. Whether that means a more compact size, cleaner foliage, better color or a tidier appearance, nativars solve problems that can arise with the genotype.” At your nurseries and greenhouses, you may be finding more compact sizes of favorite native plants with bigger blooms and better color, along with more disease resistance.
So, the next question is to plant or not to plant? According to Mary Phillips of the National Wildlife Federation, it is good to plant 80% native plants, and 20% cultivars or nativars, so that specialist feeders still get what they need to survive. Let us look at Echinacea purpurea,“White Swan,” for a moment. It is a nativar because it is a cultivated variety of the native species with a white flower. Another new nativar of Echinacea is “Snow Cone,” a red flowering coneflower with a compact size of up to 2 and a half feet for the front of a perennial border. There are many new nativars to choose to add to your perennial areas.

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