Ecologial Design Tips
Important things to consider when selecting plants for your own ecological garden:
Stacking Functions-Every plant in the garden can perform more than one role. Rather than selecting plants, shrubs, or trees based on a single characteristic such as color or size, consider selecting plants that perform a variety of garden functions. For example, a shrub may be chosen to cast shade or create a windbreak, but the shrub could also be selected for its fruit or forage for humans and wildlife, its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, provide habitat, create mulch, attract beneficial insects, provide medicine or tea, etc. Stacking functions is an important concept to embrace in an ecological garden. Creating beneficial and emergent relationships, as well as conserving energy are simple ways to mimic productive patterns found in nature.
Ecological Function- Choosing plants based on their ecological function is a useful way to create interactive plant communities in which plants can support one another through their unique qualities. Not only can we opt for plants that create beneficial networks, we also allow the plants to perform the garden work for us. The result is a low-maintenance and healthy garden. For example, plants may be selected for their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, draw nutrients to the soil surface, attract beneficial insects, repel unwanted insects, provide food and habitat for wildlife, aerate soil with deep taproots, retain soil moisture, outcompete weeds. They may have excellent mulch-making properties (large soft leaves), vertical growing habit, and so much more.
Perennial Landscapes-Perennial plants are herbaceous plants which have a life cycle of more than one year. Their above ground foliage may die back seasonally, but returns again in the spring from their root-stock. Perennials are hardy and require little maintenance, unlike annual varieties which must be replanted each year. Our aim in an ecological garden is to mimic productive patterns found in nature, thus we want to prevent arrested succession and encourage a mature and stable plant community by using perennial species whenever possible.
Edible Landscapes-Edible landscapes are both beautiful AND productive. They are also not exclusively comprised of tender annual vegetables planted in orderly rows. There are many perennials with edible flowers, fruit, leaves, stalks, and roots. Don’t forget fruit trees and berries. An ecological garden takes an entirely different approach to food. It grants the freedom to cultivate all the plants which aren’t fit for high yield production or transportability. We can revisit obscure plants that have been foraged for centuries until the advent of modern food production. Please see the resources page for books on permaculture and food production. Many of them have extensive tables, lists, and indexes of the myriad of edible plants.
Natives-An ecological/permaculture garden does not favor native plants over exotics, but rather useful plants that are adapted to the bioregion. However, there are many advantages to including native species in your landscape. They are more likely to survive. They won’t require much additional water or care. Native wildlife will also benefit as they have co-evolved with the native flora. Further, an individual garden may not achieve much in the way of restoring native vegetation or fragmented habitat, but it will go far in providing for humans in way that relieves pressure from once wild lands. Water Budget- Water may not appear to be a limiting factor due to large municipal infrastructure that supplies our irrigation needs, but it is a critical consideration in the time of growing population, climate change, and diminishing fossil fuels. Thus, water budget is not how much money you are willing to spend on water, but the amount of water naturally entering your site that will sustain your landscape independently of centralized water distribution. Water budget is also an inventory of onsite resources which are often overlooked such as rainwater or (greywater in some regions). When selecting your plant palette, consider and respond to the conditions which are specific to your site. It’s important not to just impose your expectations. They may be incompatible or won’t contribute to a balanced, productive, and regenerative landscape.
Important things to consider when selecting plants for your own ecological garden:
Stacking Functions-Every plant in the garden can perform more than one role. Rather than selecting plants, shrubs, or trees based on a single characteristic such as color or size, consider selecting plants that perform a variety of garden functions. For example, a shrub may be chosen to cast shade or create a windbreak, but the shrub could also be selected for its fruit or forage for humans and wildlife, its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, provide habitat, create mulch, attract beneficial insects, provide medicine or tea, etc. Stacking functions is an important concept to embrace in an ecological garden. Creating beneficial and emergent relationships, as well as conserving energy are simple ways to mimic productive patterns found in nature.
Ecological Function- Choosing plants based on their ecological function is a useful way to create interactive plant communities in which plants can support one another through their unique qualities. Not only can we opt for plants that create beneficial networks, we also allow the plants to perform the garden work for us. The result is a low-maintenance and healthy garden. For example, plants may be selected for their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, draw nutrients to the soil surface, attract beneficial insects, repel unwanted insects, provide food and habitat for wildlife, aerate soil with deep taproots, retain soil moisture, outcompete weeds. They may have excellent mulch-making properties (large soft leaves), vertical growing habit, and so much more.
Perennial Landscapes-Perennial plants are herbaceous plants which have a life cycle of more than one year. Their above ground foliage may die back seasonally, but returns again in the spring from their root-stock. Perennials are hardy and require little maintenance, unlike annual varieties which must be replanted each year. Our aim in an ecological garden is to mimic productive patterns found in nature, thus we want to prevent arrested succession and encourage a mature and stable plant community by using perennial species whenever possible.
Edible Landscapes-Edible landscapes are both beautiful AND productive. They are also not exclusively comprised of tender annual vegetables planted in orderly rows. There are many perennials with edible flowers, fruit, leaves, stalks, and roots. Don’t forget fruit trees and berries. An ecological garden takes an entirely different approach to food. It grants the freedom to cultivate all the plants which aren’t fit for high yield production or transportability. We can revisit obscure plants that have been foraged for centuries until the advent of modern food production. Please see the resources page for books on permaculture and food production. Many of them have extensive tables, lists, and indexes of the myriad of edible plants.
Natives-An ecological/permaculture garden does not favor native plants over exotics, but rather useful plants that are adapted to the bioregion. However, there are many advantages to including native species in your landscape. They are more likely to survive. They won’t require much additional water or care. Native wildlife will also benefit as they have co-evolved with the native flora. Further, an individual garden may not achieve much in the way of restoring native vegetation or fragmented habitat, but it will go far in providing for humans in way that relieves pressure from once wild lands. Water Budget- Water may not appear to be a limiting factor due to large municipal infrastructure that supplies our irrigation needs, but it is a critical consideration in the time of growing population, climate change, and diminishing fossil fuels. Thus, water budget is not how much money you are willing to spend on water, but the amount of water naturally entering your site that will sustain your landscape independently of centralized water distribution. Water budget is also an inventory of onsite resources which are often overlooked such as rainwater or (greywater in some regions). When selecting your plant palette, consider and respond to the conditions which are specific to your site. It’s important not to just impose your expectations. They may be incompatible or won’t contribute to a balanced, productive, and regenerative landscape.