Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden.
Benefits
Maintenance Natural landscaping is adapted to the climate, geography and hydrology and should require no pesticides, fertilizers and watering to maintain, given that native plants have adapted and evolved to local conditions over thousands of years. However, these applications may be necessary for some preventive care of trees and other vegetation. Native plants are suitable for "low-maintenance" gardening and landscaping, with many species being vigorous and hardy and able to survive winter cold and summer heat. Once established, they can flourish without irrigation or fertilization, and are resistant to most pests and diseases. Many municipalities have quickly recognized the benefits of natural landscaping due to municipal budget constraints and reductions and the general public is now benefiting from the implementation of natural landscaping techniques to save water and create more personal time.
Ecology and habitat
Native plants provide suitable habitat for native species of butterflies, birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. They provide more variety in gardens by offering myriad alternatives to the often planted introduced species, cultivars, and invasive species. The indigenous plants have co-evolved with animals, fungi and microbes, to form a complex network of relationships. They are the foundation of their native habitats and ecosystems, or natural communities. Such gardens often benefit from the plants being evolved and habituated to the local climate, pests and herbivores, and soil conditions, and so may require fewer to no soil amendments, irrigation, pesticides, and herbicides for a beautiful, lower maintenance, and more sustainable landscape.
Habitat challenges However, while local provenance plants have adapted to local conditions (which includes climate, soil, and other native plants and animals), there will often be instances, especially in cities, where one or more of these will have been radically altered. Examples include:
Building rubble used as landfill may raise soil pH (i.e. create alkaline soil), which can be problematic in regions of acidic soils (with local plants adapted to acid soils). Buildings cast a substantial shade, this may give rise to conditions substantially shadier than needed by local plants. Soil which is high in organic material and nutrients is often introduced into gardens, or many gardeners will have used fertilizers. Plants from some areas may not thrive under these conditions. For example, many Australian plants are particularly sensitive to phosphorus. Many native plants are adapted to, and benefit from, periodic wildfires that occurred before and during pre-modern settlement. These fires can be simulated in the garden by either "high mowing" or a controlled burn every few years. Many weeds in an area are usually the result of imported plants. These plants become invasive because there are no natural controls such as disease, weather, or fauna in their new environment. They take over native habitats, reducing shelter and food for local fauna. Using local provenance plants increases the biodiversity of and is important for the health of a region's overall ecology. Much of the wild areas have been destroyed to make room for urban development. Housing developments have replaced native habitats with ornamental plants and lawns, pushing the wildland–urban interface further out. While development won't be stopped, gardeners can keep wild areas and green spaces filled with native species on their lots and in their communities. Despite this, there are usually plenty of indigenous or native plants which will grow and thrive in the area one is trying to establish a native garden.
Native plants
The use of native plants in a garden or landscape can both preserve and protect natural ecosystems, and reduce the amount of care and energy required to maintain a healthy garden or landscape. Native plants are adapted to the local climate and geology, and often require less maintenance than exotic species. Native plants also support populations of native birds, insects, and other animals that they coevolved with, thus promoting a healthy community of organisms. Plants in a garden or maintained landscape often form a source population from which plants can colonize new areas. Avoiding the use of invasive species helps to prevent such plants from establishing new populations. Similarly, the use of native species can provide a valuable source to help these plants colonise new areas. Some non-native species can form an ecological trap in which native species are lured into an environment that appears attractive but is poorly suited to them. However, in Britain research by the University of Sheffield as part of the BUGS project (Biodiversity in Urban Gardens in Sheffield) has revealed that for many invertebrates – the majority of wild animals in most gardens – it is not just native plants which can sustain them. The findings were published in popular form in Ken Thompson's book No Nettles Required: The truth about wildlife gardening. He confirms the approach which Chris Baines had promoted in How to Make a Wildlife Garden. Some ecosystems may benefit from any increase in biomass, from the introduction of certain non-native species, or any increase in biodiversity. In the case of disturbed areas some exotic/non-native plants may fare better than the displaced, native inhabitants, in the process increasing the biodiversity and biological biomass.
Types
In general
Native gardens include the following kinds:
Fully forested with leaf debris on the forest floor, including coarse woody debris if possible; Desert with arid loving plants and succulents; Grassy meadow with a variety of wildflowers and water features; Lowland savanna with grasses and native trees; and Oceanic dunescape with tall, salt tolerant grasses.
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