A local group wants to make sure all us understand and help protect Tennessee’s native plants.
The Tennessee Native Plant Society created to educate people on proper plant usage and protection. Founder Eligh Miller-Polivka said he is intrigued by the thought of the world being a giant, edible garden, and the work required to best utilize it.
“You just have to go have some fun and pick it and I don’t know, smell it,” Miller-Polivka said. “It uses all of your senses and you can see what it’s useful for. And you can always go back to the same place and get some more, and I think that’s really fascinating.”
Miller-Polivka said he hopes to show people the importance of native plants in the ecosystem, and the consequences of invasive plant species taking their place. Miller-Polivka said he hopes to encourage people to use Tennessee’s native plants in their landscapes over transplants from other countries.
“Sometimes, those can damage habitats,” Miller-Polivka said. “You know, destroy habitats for certain native birds and et cetera. Which can, it just rolls downhill.”
Miller-Polivka said he became obsessed with plants when he was 18. He then published a waterproof travel guide detailing edible and medicinal native plants. Miller-Polivka said he then started the Facebook page, which got the group going.
Miller-Polivka said he is also involved in several other states’ native plant societies.
As far as Tennessee’s native plants, Miller-Polivka said his favorite is the passion flower. He said the common variety is purple and it grows a large, edible passionfruit. He said this is not the same passionfruit that grows in the tropical areas.
You can find them everywhere that’s not lower elevations, so you can find it nearly all over the state,” Miller-Polivka said. “There’s almost no part of the state where it won’t grow.”
Miller-Polivka said he plans on doing some plant walk abouts throughout Tennessee, which will be a good chance to learn about identifying native plants.