Conservation in my Backyard?
by Samantha Costello (gardener & designer)
We are all lovers of beautiful landscapes, but what is it about a serene view that soothes and pleases us? As designers and gardeners we can dissect a scene using design principles, just as an artist would, to create an aesthetically pleasing piece of art laid out on a canvas. But what is it that’s captured in certain works of art that really intrigues us?
Water Lilies (Claude Monet)
Aesthetics have always been very important to me as an artist, but as I have grown into a biologist, a gardener, farmer and a designer, it’s the beauty of life all around that really has me hooked. Sitting on my deck I can watch the aerial mastery of a swallow, or hear the buzz of dragonfly wings. The living, breathing life in the landscape is just as beautiful as any flower display. Unfortunately these creatures we so often take for granted in our backyards are becoming more endangered each year as large swaths of native habitat are segmented, destroyed, and transformed into urban or suburban landscapes.
Where can conservation and landscape design intersect?
Some local fauna from in our gardens
Research done by Doug Tallamy, Ph.D. (Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE) about the importance of landscaping with natives shows that planting natives as apposed to exotic plants really does support our local biodiversity. I was shocked to hear his evidence against exotic plants. His data suggests that non-native city trees were hardly visited by native birds and butterflies/moths. Birds that ate berries from exotic species were not as nutritionally supported and in some cases the berries were completely rejected. Native plants supported a high diversity of Lepidoptera species (which are ranked in the 2 tables below).
Best woody and herbaceous species to plant to attract butterflies and moths in the US mid-Atlantic region (derived from studies done by Doug Tallamy Ph.D.)
For hundreds of years co-evolution between plants and animals within each ecoregion has supported all sorts of life—including our own, as we too depend on ecosystems to provide us with our basic needs. There may be more going on in our backyards than we think!
I feel privileged and excited to be part of a team that has the knowledge and experience to help create and sustain landscapes that are both aesthetically pleasing and supportive of our local wildlife.
Feel free to contact us if this style of gardening or landscape design interests you or try out these websites to learn more:
http://www.nwf.org/How-to-Help/Garden-for-Wildlife/Create-a-Habitat.aspx