Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Brief Summary of Business Minutes:

September 18, 2020 @12:00-4:00 MST – Zoom

--- Tracy Dougher (Administrative Advisor) briefly introduced the history, mission, and  project objectives of WERA-1013 (Intermountain Regional Evaluation and Introduction of Native Plants).

“WERA-1013 is an officially recognized Western Education/Extension and Research Activity designed to enhance the introduction and evaluation of native plants and to provide education concerning their use and propagation. The people involved make up a working group of western US university and nursery professionals who wish to advance the use of native plants in landscaping and gardening.”

“Objectives: 1) Establish a regional system for the development, evaluation, and introduction of new native plant materials; 2) Coordinate regional efforts to provide education to both public and industry professionals on native plant use, propagation, and production.”

--- All participants gave brief introductions.

--- Approved 2019 annual business minutes unanimously.

--- Discussion about strategies to reach out to new members:

• Mengmeng Gu: email to colleagues working on native plants through ASHS platform.
• Genhua Niu: also target those who work on adapted plants.
• Heidi Kratsch: personally invite colleagues working on native plants.

--- Updates on collaborative research, education and grant activities:

• Orville Baldos and Kristina Hufford took the lead in discussion on educational outreach and promotion: native plant promotion, landscape use and proper maintenance, e.g. horticultural application of native lagoon plants, poisonous native plants, low-toxicity native plants.
• Mengmeng Gu led the discussion on selection and breeding native plants (e.g. pollinator health, water-wise, fire-wise, plants for drought-prone area) as well as potential grant applications to USDA Multi-State Specialty Crops and/or Specialty Crop Research Initiative.
• Further discussion will be conducted online to make collaborative efforts on native plants and prepare proposals whenever interstate grant opportunities are open.

--- WERA-1013 Website (https://wyoextension.org/westernnativeplants):

• Marketing Team at the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, Utah State University (USU) declined the request to host the website at the Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping (CWEL).
• A request was submitted to USU IT team, and Youping will follow up with that.

--- Youping led the discussion on 2021 annual meeting:

• A survey is needed to decide when is the best time for the next annual meeting. Three options are: June-July meeting, Joint with American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) Annual Conference (August), and October meeting. In addition, hybrid, virtual, or in-person meeting should be included in the survey.
• James Klett is willing to help if next meeting is held at Colorado State University and coordinate the tour (e.g. Denver Botanical Garden, local nursery).

--- Nomination and election of incoming Chair-elect and Secretary:

• Chair: Bill Graves, Iowa State University.
• Chair-elect and Secretary: Orville Baldos, University of Hawaii at Manoa (nominated by Stephen Love, seconded by Youping Sun, approved unanimously from all participants).

--- SAES-422 Annual Report is due on November 18, 2020. All station reports must be submitted to youping (youping.sun@usu.edu) by October 18, 2020. Youping Sun and Bill Graves will compile and submit. Tracy Dougher emailed a SAES-422 template to participants.

--- Regional publication collaboration: Heidi Kratsch suggested again to publish the presentations as Conference Proceedings. Stephen Love is willing to help. A survey is needed to see how many members are interested in the proceedings before further action.

--- Seven research reports and project reviews were given.

--- Meeting adjourned @ 3: 57 pm MST.

Accomplishments

--- Members of WERA-1013 worked and continue to work towards moving the WERA-1013 Intermountain Native Plants web site from the University of Wyoming to Utah State University. Currently, Ann Tanaka, webmaster at the University of Wyoming, continues to maintain the site, add and update material as needed. For example, two entries (Arctostaphylos patula and Arctostaphylos uva- ursi) at Oregon State University were added to the WERA-1013 Intermountain Native Plants web site. The site can be found at http://www.wyoextension.org/westernnativeplants/index.php.

--- Members of WERA-1013 from participant universities continued to develop, evaluate, and introduce new native plant materials through an established regional system and to release those newly developed plant materials to their industry partners. For example, Colorado State University continued to evaluate two Cerocarpus introductions received in 2016-17 from Utah State University. Six new native plant products were released for commercial production by the University of Idaho and their Native Roots, LLC marketing partner. Four new releases produced at Utah State University are under preparation for Cache Valley Nursery, Hyrum, UT, to propagate, grow, sell, and distribute them in the United States and Canada.

--- Members of WERA-1013 from participant universities continued to coordinate regional efforts to develop educational materials and provide education to both public and industry professionals on native plant use, propagation, and production. For example, a promotional brochure introducing the 2020 Plant Select® plants was produced for growers in the Rocky Mountain and Intermountain Region. The WERA-1013 web site continued to provide information for enhanced production of various native plants in the intermountain west. Utah State University has delivered presentations and published conference abstracts and peer-reviewed papers on Native Plants Journal or HortScience, jointly with the University of Idaho or the University of Nevada.

In addition, Members of WERA-1013 continued to enhance the introduction and evaluation of native plants. The details are listed as below. Joint efforts were also made to coordinate the regional evaluations of newly selected native plants and to seek additional funding to support the continued success in native plants’ research and education programs.

------ At Colorado State University, plant Select® program introduced four plants (Dracocephalum ruyschiana (indigo blue dragonhead), Artemisia abrotanum ‘Leprechaun’ (leprechaun southernwood), and two forms of Stachys lavandulifolia (silver form and green form)), and promoted additional three plants (Amorpha nana (dwarf lead plant), Clematis hexapetala (mongolian snowflakes), and Thermopsis lupinoides (golden candles)). Several new plant explorations have been conducted in Argentina. Seeds collected on these trips have been germinated and will be evaluated around the State of Colorado for Plant Select® program. Greenhouse experiments continued to evaluate two Plant Select® taxa (Pterocephalus depressus, and Scutellaria x‘Pat Hayward’) in two growing media and three fertilizers at two rates as well as plant growth regulators. In addition, propagation studies continued looking at various Plant Select® taxa with various hormone levels and bottom heat temperatures. Photoperiod studies were initiated to determine photoperiod response for Zauschneria garrettii ‘Orange Carpet’ and Scuttelaria scordifolia ‘Pat Haywood’. Seven woody plants were planted at two of our research sites throughout Colorado including Prunus besseyi ‘Blonde Bessey’, Caragana maximowicziana, Thuja plicata, Physocarpus monogynus ‘Grey Rock’, Prunus x‘Sun Valley’ and Euonymas fortune; ‘Loveland’.

------ At Oregon State University (OSU), native perennial plants are included at the OSU Demonstration Garden in Redmond, OR and at the Hollinshead Water-wise Garden in Bend, OR. Native annuals including Cuphea ‘FloriGlory Diana’, Nasturtium ‘Baby Rose’, Tagetes ‘Super Hero Spry’, Tagetes ‘Big Duck Gold’, ‘Zinnia ‘Holi Scarlet’, Zinnia ‘Profusion Red’, Zinnia ‘Queeny Lime’, and native perennial Rudbeckia xAmerican Gold Rush were grown in the All-America Display Garden, OSU Demonstration Garden, Redmond, OR in 2020.

------ At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, to meet the demand for native Hawaiian plants, a native ornamental research program was established. The objectives of the program are to collect, select and evaluate non-endangered and underutilized species for use as a landscape plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant. Six accessions of Jacquemontia sandwicensis (Pāʻūohiʻiaka) were collected from the islands of Hawaii, Maui and Oahu (Ahihi-Kinau, Lyon Arboretum, Shidler College, McGregor Point, Puhala Bay and Southpoint). These accessions were propagated and characterized. Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of each accession were recorded and then analyzed using the Principal Components Analysis. Results identified Puhala Bay, Lyon Arboretum and South Point as potential accessions for hanging baskets. These accessions responded well to pruning and had shorter internodes as well as high number of lateral branches. Two accessions (Puhala Bay and Lyon Arboretum) have been distributed to interested growers and landscapers and is slate for release soon. Peperomia mauiensis (‘Ala ‘ala wai nui) is undergoing indoor light trials. As of September 2020 (4 months after installation), P. mauiensis also appears to tolerate low light levels. Distribution and market testing of this species is ongoing.

------ At the University of Idaho, nineteen species accessions were collected as seeds or stem cuttings from eastern Utah, southeastern Idaho, and the Pioneer Mountains of central Idaho during traveling on personal business. Cuttings were propagated at the Aberdeen R & E Center. Evaluation and selection of native plant accessions continued in a 3-acre field on the Aberdeen R & E Center. Seeds harvested from increase blocks were distributed to the University of Idaho’s Native Roots, LLC industry partner. Began to transplant accessions from the increase field back into the evaluation field to simplify plot maintenance procedures during the summer of 2020 and will be completed in the spring of 2021. In the spring of 2020, 13 native plant accessions expressing superior market potential were legally transferred to Native Roots, LLC for establishment within their commercial-scale seed increase field. These plant accessions include Astragalus bisulcatus (two-grooved milkvetch), Penstemon ambiguus (phlox-flower penstemon), Oenothera organensis (organ Mountain evening primrose), Potentilla hippiana (wooly cinquefoil), Asclepias latifolia (broadleaf milkweed), Lepidium montanum (mountain pepperweed), Phlox austromontana var. jonesii (zion phlox), Phlox kelseyi (Kelsey’s phlox), Antennaria corybosa (flattop pussytoes), Viola adunca (hooked spur violet), Fragaria virginiana (virginia strawberry), Philadelphus microphyllus (littleleaf mockorange), and Acer glabrum (Rocky Mountain maple). Six new native plant products (Penstemon rupicola x newberryi (mountain pride penstemon), Aquilegia barnebyi (Oil shale columbine), Penstemon barbatus (Scarlet bugler), Stachys coccinea (Texas betony), Festuca arizonica (Arizona fescue), and Heuchera pulchella (Sandia Mountain coral bells)) were released for commercial production by the University of Idaho and their Native Roots, LLC marketing partner in the spring of 2020.

------ At the University of Nevada, 121 arborists in the Great Basin region of the Intermountain West were surveyed to determine their opinions about the best trees for drought tolerance and adaptability in USDA cold hardiness range 4-7. Survey asked: list top 10 trees for drought tolerance. Rank factors used when making tree selectin decisions. Data showed that a large number of native trees made the list. Being native to the region was ranked 7 out of 13 environmental decision-making factors overall, with the highest rankings from arborists in eastern Washington, eastern California, and Colorado. The top native trees listed included: common hackberry, ponderosa pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, pinyon pine, blue spruce, limber pine, Douglas-fir, white fir, bristlecone pine, gambel oak, and bigtooth maple.

------ At the University of Wyoming, initially planned as a class project for Plant Propagation during spring semester of 2020, this became an independent summer experiment instead after classes all went online due to the COVID virus. Using a mix of wildflowers in both seed and embedded seed mat form, a raised bed was sown with both in June 2020. A 4 x 6-foot rectangular raised bed was used. The raised bed was filled with a topsoil/compost mix (70/30 by volume). A “Bee Feed Mix” was sown in seed form and impregnated-paper form on June 16, in eight 2 x 2-foot square plots, four plots for seeds and four plots for paper mat. Data were collected on date of emergence for each of the eight plots along with identification of any plants flowering at the end of the growing season. Twelve of the species in the mixes are native to the U.S., such as Eschscholzia californica (California poppy), red-flowered Papaver rhoeas (corn poppy), and white-flowered Lobularia maritima (tall white sweet alyssum).

------ At Utah State University, eight ornamental grasses were evaluated for salinity tolerance in a greenhouse study. Two species native to the western United States were included: Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed) and Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’ (blue fescue). Penstemon barbatus (golden-beard penstemon) and Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mountain beardtongue) were evaluated for salinity tolerance using a near-continuous gradient dosing (NCGD) system. Cutting propagation were conducted for Cercocarpus montanus (alder-leaf mountain mahogany) and Ceanothus velutinus (snowbrush ceanothus), two species native to the western United States.

------ At Washington State University, a project uses ecological theory, specifically a combination of coexistence theory, community assembly filters, and CSR functional classification, to design a wildflower seed mix with the intent of promoting long-term diversity. Site functional vectors were estimated, and plants were selected based on both their fundamental niche suitability and their functional vector compatibility to promote niche stabilization while maximizing coexistence. Three seed mixes and one control mix were sown onto twenty-four trial plots representative of urban planting conditions during Spring of 2019. Both taxonomic and functional abundance data are being recorded over a period of two seasons, with the second season ending in Spring of 2021.

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