Designing With Native Plants

8. April 2008 by admin.

    Every ecosystem is built around plants, animals, and insects that have been a part of that eco-system for centuries. Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually engaged in a set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they exist. Enter man, shaping and changing his environment as he deems it best.

   Every ecosystem where man is “dominant”, is essentially out of balance and our gardens are no exception. We bring in exotic plants from similar climates but that have different ecosystems and displace the plants around which beneficial insects, birds, and animals have been dependent  since before western man came to  North America.

  Many environmentalists advocate for the complete restoration of the ecosystem by switching  almost exclusively to native plants, a strategy that conceptually has merit, but in practice is doomed. The truth is that with pollution, hi foot traffic, and  the presence of roads-impermeable surfaces- everywhere in urban and suburban environments, not every space is ideal for natives any more. For example, while native plants may thrive in a garden  or woodland environment, they wont necessarily do as well in busy, highly trafficked streets (though there will be exceptions)

   There is room for native plants in our gardens, and if we want healthy gardens with minimal chemical intervention, we will use them. They are the lifeblood of the animals and insects that are natural controls to the insects and diseases that feed on our imported plants of which we are so fond.

   One of the easiest ways to re-introduce natives is to replace lawn areas that are rarely walked on with native wildflower mixes. Removing  a few hundred, or even a few thousand square feet of lawn and replacing it with wildflowers will do wonders in restoring a habitat that is friendly to the local ecosystem. Other ways are to pepper natives into your perennial beds, to plant native fruit bearing trees and shrubs like Amelanchier , native winterberry, and sapphireberry, that  are tough and will feed local birds.

     To learn more about natives plants in New York, where to buy them and how to care for them, visit the native plant center at Westchester Community College or go   their site http://www.nativeplantcenter.org/

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