[PCA] Backyard gardens

[Daniel Segal]

Wow, what a great eco-philososphical question: is it beneficial or, in fact, detrimental to promote, and use, native plants in backyard wildlife gardens?  There should be hundreds of people chiming in here!

>From that seemingly simple question, the dialogue has evolved, both recently on this listserv, and over the years in countless communities, to the more complex, utilitarian one: do the benefits outweigh the detriments?  In a word, yes.

The real issue, it seems to me, is one of rarity.  Rare plants are simply more susceptible, in all ways, to our actions--disturbance in general, leading to extirpation, extinction, or hybridization from the planting of similar taxa in close proximity.  Perhaps the only way rare taxa are not more susceptible is that we are much less likely to encounter them.  However, the important thing is that with critical mass, with significant enough numbers of individuals, a taxon should be able to take care of itself.   For common, abundant taxa, I doubt that anything we do can render significant, irreparable changes in a short time.  In fact, to think we can have such an impact may be hubristic, or at least misguided.  Most species of plants don't suffer their moments of fate in the backyard, suburban garden environment.  It is not a do-or-die arena.  In most cases the habitat value in Suburbia is very low to begin with, and the most common plant and animal species persist.  But note that has nothing to do with backyard gardeners or gardening.  It has to do with development, poor land use and management, and the value of short term gain despite long-term loss.  The point being that do-or-die arenas are mesas, dunes, seeps, scree fields, serpentine barrens, vernal pools, pocosins, etc., that typically harbor rare taxa. Wherever these habitats are encroached upon by us and our actions, then it is quite possibly do or die for those plants in the way, sadly.  Most backyard gardening is not taking place there.

So it is important to advance from the theoretical to the specific--what plants are we talking about?  Are we talking about a backyard gardener planting 5 quarts of Asclepias incarnata around a water feature in a 1/4 acre backyard?  Does anyone really think that can have a detrimental effect on anything?  The worst thing that may happen is that the seed source was from the southern part of the range, and this backyard is in the north, and the plants don't overwinter.  Even that happens far less than we native plant people care to admit.  

If we are talking about large-scale restoration plantings, statistically in most cases the numbers are still a blip.  750 plugs of non-local ecotype Asclepias incarnata, or 3,500 even, are not going to do much in the big picture to a wide-ranging, common species.  Further, the assumption among most ecologists is that a shot of distand ecotype is bad for the local one.  I disagree--at least, it is not scientifically sound to assume such a genetic infusion will be harmful.  It may well be beneficial, as environments and conditions change rapidly, and most ecotypes have most likely diverged from a common metapopulation anyway, so they should not be considered as distinct from each other as different species are distinct.  

Any rarity issues should be handled locally.  Local seed, whatever people in the area agree on to be local.  And that is standard now, or should be--that local seed sources should be used in restoration work.  Don't blame the nurseries if that is not happening!  Ask your agencies and hired designers why they are not requiring local seed sources be used.  Local doesn't have to mean within 1 mile but most reasonable biologists and ecologists will agree on some distance or natural boundary.  The far greater obstacle to this happening is the lack of foresight and budget--not the inability of all involved to agree on some reasonable quantifiable range for "local".  And most local nurseries would welcome the demand for stock grown locally from local seed--it gives them a competitive edge.  Such a demand would also do a small part in closing the loop and making life more local, which I think is important to many people interested in backyard gardening and the use of native plants.

Education--I see backyard gardening as the environmentalist's gateway drug.  It should lead to other things.  To greater depths of appreciation for nature, to a greater committment to local and global environmental awareness and action, and to the most important thing: love of nature, the love of something greater than, and other than, ourselves.  In this love of the natural world can be found the values that so many say are lacking in today's society.  I hope life is not so ironic that habitat gardeners end up being chastised for trying to do something peaceful and sustainable.  Yes, the definition of native may end up being stretched a bit, but that will change if enough people care to learn more about what is really a relatively new trend.  

(*While some may argue that habitat gardening detracts from the real mission of conservation, I think any of the home gardeners who want to do both will do both, and any who are doing it simply for a look, or because it's popularm wouldn't make effective conservationists anyway.)

The underlying difference between ecological restoration and habitat gardening is that the two situations have different goals, so they can accept plants grown with different sets of values.  If you are a hardcore backyard gardener then you find yourself wanting plants that are more suitable for true ecological restoration--local source, seed grown, etc.  If you are going for a naturalistic look and want to avoid invasive exotics, for example, it's not a big deal if you don't know the origin of your plants--your main concern is that they are regional natives.  

For what it's worth.  And I hope if I rankle anyone, that you will respond!  It's rare that a topic can touch on so many of the best threads of the human-plant interaction.


Daniel Segal
Nursery Manager, Pinelands Nursery & Supply
(wholesale nursery in the eastern US serving the restoration market)




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