Interview with Catherine Ludden, native plant advocate

Catherine Ludden in her home garden

Catherine Ludden was a Wall Street lawyer who moved to Westchester from Manhattan 30 years ago. After this move, she became interested in gardening and joined a local garden club. Her gardening approach was radically transformed when she learned about the ecological importance of native plants from renowned entomologist Doug Tallamy. Inspired by this message, she joined the Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College. Since then, she has advocated for planting natives, leaving leaves, not using pesticides and other sustainable practices. She writes “Around the Grounds,” a popular blog for the Nature Center of Greenburgh, and serves on the boards of the Nature Center and Untermyer Gardens Conservancy. Cathy also advises individuals and organizations about what native plants would be the best to plant in specific areas. In fact, Cathy recommended several natives for Waterfront Park when its Friends group was planning its extensive pollinator gardens.

If you want to plant a native garden of your own, the first thing Cathy suggests is to remove invasive species, particularly the more aggressive invasives such as mugwort. “Then plant natives where you have a space or when something dies.” Planting an oak tree is particularly valuable – oaks support more life-forms than any other North American tree genus.

It’s important to do some background research. Cathy recommends the Missouri Botanical Garden, The Native Plant Center website, and Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy as excellent native plant resources. She added, “Different plants like different types of soil and sun exposure. This knowledge will help you decide where to plant in your yard. Also, check how water drains in your garden.” Cathy suggests doing a google search of the Latin name of the plant you are considering plus the word native (e.g. echinacea purpurea native). That will ensure that you are not planting a perennial of the same genus but different species - which may be non-native.

Two annual spring plant sales are good sources for natives: the Native Plant Center Sale at Westchester Community College and Irvington Garden Club’s sale at Greenburgh Nature Center. In addition, Rosedale Nursery in Hawthorne has a wide selection of native plants. In her own garden, Cathy has identified over 45 species of birds and many different species of butterflies. Many of these butterflies visit her garden as she intentionally plants their host plants. Like milkweed for the monarch butterfly, most insects have a specific host plant that is the only plant that they can use for food. It is important that these plants remain in abundance in our ecosystem. If they are removed, insect populations decrease which will in turn cause a decline in the bird populations that rely on these insects for food.

Cathy recommends leaving leaves on the ground to allow pollinators to live there during the winter. She has also found that having so many birds in her garden has helped keep the mosquito population fairly low.

Cathy has very few issues with invasive insects, like lanternflies. “Often the pesticides that people spray to try to kill ticks, mosquitos, or other insects are ineffective and instead kill fireflies and other beneficial insects.” She added that many of pest insect issues are caused by invasive plants. They often bring the invasive insects and other pathogens that are detrimental to other species of plants or insects. 

Within her garden, Ludden has some invasive plants springing up due to birds dropping their seeds in the garden. To combat this, she removes non-natives as soon as she notices them. She still has many weeds, but the majority are native weeds, like clear weed. She has some plants that deer, woodchucks, and rabbits like to eat. However there are many native plants that animals dislike and she uses animal repellents when a perennial has just been planted to allow it to grow. Often animals will leave mature plants alone.

Cathy pointed out that she started by planting non-natives in her own garden and does not have a degree in botany, but has taken classes and indulged her curiosity by seeking out knowledge to become a recognized expert on native plants. She said that you will make mistakes when planting a garden, but that it is all part of the process.

Cathy’s Around the Grounds blog is a fantastic resource of knowledge and advice, and linked to the seasons. Subscribe to it here.

Author Helen Kupershlak is a senior at Dobbs Ferry High School and an intern for Friends of the Dobbs Ferry Waterfront Park