Clone Invasion

Oh no! My plants are clones! Don’t panic. If you’ve ever eaten a ‘Granny Smith’ apple, you are familiar with clones. All Granny Smith apple trees (at least the top halves) are descended from cuttings of the same plant, as are most other named fruit varieties. Plants can be cloned by division, layering, cuttings, grafts, and budding. These cloning methods have been used for centuries and possibly millennia.

The advantage of cloned plants is: you know exactly what you’re getting (growing conditions aside.) No surprises, as can happen when mama flower and daddy pollen (from who knows where?) mix it up to produce seeds of who knows what.

Hedge Nettle (Stachys bullata) is cloning all over that damp shady spot
in my backyard where nothing else will grow.  Bravo!

Plants even clone in nature. Those mints that send runners into your garden and are impossible to eradicate are all clones of that first mint you made the mistake of planting.  Giant Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) “fairy rings” are a circle of cloned “daughter” trees, sprouted around a mother tree that has since died. The little rosette that you replant from your succulent is a clone of the parent.   No worries.

Except.

Except there is no genetic diversity in clones, so no chance to adapt to new situations: climate change (that could be relevant these days,) even microclimates, or new insects or diseases.

This little fellow is Dudleya 'Anacapa' from Native Sons Nursery.
Apparently a hybrid created by Wayne Roderick.  It's darn cute.

Most of our ornamental plants are clones these days. Commercial ornamental gardeners clone for two reasons. First, clones are predictable. They’ve all got the same genes for size, shape, color, etc. Isn’t predictability what gardeners want? Second, clones can be patented, and their distribution controlled, to the profit of the grower holding the patent. A grower’s got to make a living, right?

To be fair, some plants do not breed true from seed so must be cloned. Sometimes we’re not good at growing them from seed at all. Maybe we are missing that obscure native bee that knew how to pollinate a particular plant.

Baja Bush Snapdragon 'Gran Cañon' - may or may not be a clone, but it has the same hummingbird magnet flowers as every other Bush Snapdragon, plus a growth habit out of a Dr. Seuss book.

Clones in the native garden can be problematic if:

1) They may breed with local wild populations and distort their characteristics. (So cultivars from Baja and Channel Islands natives are no problem.  Or your municipality has already planted hundreds of that cultivar in your neighborhood... say, did they ever think of this issue?)

2) They may deprive wildlife of the benefits of the wild type plant. (For instance, dwarf coyote bushes are usually all male plants, so will not provide seed to wildlife… but will still pollinate the local coyote ladies, problem #1.  But in our neighborhood, the association already planted hundreds of them, so damage done. I seem to have a volunteer cross in my yard.  I'll find a home for it.)

3) You are attempting a native habitat restoration. Those hardworking pioneers need a diverse gene pool, hopefully adapted to the local environment.

4) The clone is now so garden-docile it no longer belong in a low-water native garden, needing unreasonable amounts of water and fertilizer. (For example Manzanita ‘Emerald Carpet’ and some Coral Bells that need lots of water.)

But how do you know if your plants are cloned? Ask how your plants are propagated.  If your vendor doesn’t know, you’re at the wrong nursery.

Heuchera "Old La Rochette' by my front door last year.

How about hybrids? Pretty much the same issues, in fact many hybrids are cloned. Gotta confess, I’m nuts about hybrid Coral Bells, Heuchera ‘Old La Rochette’– it likes a bit more water than the native Alum Root, Heuchera maxima, but has far showier blooms.

Are clones always bad news for the environment? I don’t think so. Dwarf coyote bush is still a great water-saver (assuming you let it get established, and then don’t kill it by watering it like ivy.)

California Grape (partly.) They call it 'Roger's Red' for a reason.
This Fall color lasts a long time.

Named cultivars may be clones, hybrids, or selections from the wild or from someone’s garden. Sometimes it’s hard to know which without DNA testing. Sages, for instance, are promiscuous. They seem to hybridize at the drop of a hat, even in the wild.  So a “selection” from a native population may actually be a hybrid.   If a plant is markedly different than the usual type of its species, be suspicious.  For instance, DNA analysis of the popular ‘Roger’s Red’ California Grape apparently revealed that it is actually a hybrid with European wine grapes.  Oh well, I’m keeping mine.  Named cultivars may be grown from seed that grows “true to type.”  But most cultivars are cloned.

I love named native cultivars like Baja Snapdragon ‘Gran Cañon,’ Ceanothus ‘Concha,’ and Manzanita ‘Howard McMinn.’ They have unique, reliable forms, but still function as native plants, offering beauty, and flowers and seed to the critters, for little water.

Every Manzanita 'Howard McMinn' looks like every other.
Elegant and understated. OK by me.

Don’t fall for trendy plants. That’s not what a native garden is about. Native foliage offers a variety of leaf shape and color without resorting to purple. Ban white California Poppies! Eschew variegated-leaf Ceanothus!  I tried Toyon ‘Davis Gold.’  Instead of brilliant red Toyon berries at Christmas time, I got anemic orange ones.  My bad. (OK, I admit, I like red Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)  'Paprika'.)

Which Lilac Verbena do you prefer:
 The original selection from Baja's Cedros Island,
which breeds true, 'de la Miña' below?
Or the unwild-colored cultivar 'Paseo Rancho' above?

Bottom line: consider the problems listed above when choosing named cultivars, weighed against the benefits of consistency and desirable characteristics. You may be pure in only choosing plants from wild seed and cuttings, as some advocate. I choose to be moderate in selecting some cultivars (and clones) that still retain enough native properties to merit the name.

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