Native Beautyberry Growing in Roadside Right of Way
Sometimes it is easy to become overwhelmed with the ‘technicalities’ of garden design. Frustration can quickly set in and long needed wildlife garden projects set aside.
Though the scientific and technical wildlife garden design approach is important, sometimes the processes’ rigid ‘mechanics’ get in the way of true creativity.
Writing about wildlife gardening can be fraught with similar issues. I usually hold myself to a standard of always using proper scientific names and proper design techniques. My rooftop, living wall and garden designs are typically based on proven landscape science, biomimicry and ecological botany.
Yet sometimes I just want to step back and relax, and shake the whole computer aided drafting process off.
After becoming caught up in ensuring that the garden design on the ground reflects the two dimensional design on the AutoCad drawing, I sometimes get the feeling I may be missing out on what the ‘real’ wildlife garden design factors may be.
So here is my top ten list of recommendations for more spiritual wildlife garden design approaches. These are the ones that help me loosen up when I become infected with ‘design block’.
Kevin’s Ten Tips
1. Step out into the area you are planning on creating your wildlife garden across and sit down on the ground, in the middle of all the grass or plants. Breath deeply with your eyes closed, letting your sense of smell tell you about things you cannot see. Imagine not how your future wildlife garden will look, but of the fragrances blowing through your hair and around your face throughout the seasons. I like to recall the lyrics of ‘Jet’ by Paul McCartney and substitute ‘flower scents’ for ‘laces’.
2. Know your garden plot’s nocturnal face. We use an infrared critter cam to document the coming and goings of area wildlife at night. Too often we view our wildlife garden as a ‘daytime thing’, when sometimes there are more wildlife at night, including pollinators, than in the day. Recognize your garden’s evening gown and she will bring you many surprises. Wildlife gardens should be designed with a twenty-four seven face.
3. Ride the local roads with your camera. Right-of-ways are virtual native plant nurseries waiting to be explored. Here you will undoubtably find every beautiful wildflower you need to grow in your wildlife garden. Take nothing but photos and the learning experience. Include in your garden design those native plants catching your eye during your roadside plant outings.
4. Read and understand your local sign ordinances. Think of yout garden as a potential upscale (or fast food) restaurant site and then decide where you’d locate your sign. Your wildflower garden’s plants will be doing the same as the bright golden arches – calling in potential customers. The sky above your garden plot is a multi-lane freeway to birds, insects and other pollinators. Be sure your wildflowers are positioned so as to catch the eye of passerbys. (Google Earth is a fun tool to use to fly over your site!)
5. Walk through your garden plot barefoot in a hard rain. Watch the water flow across the ground. Understand how water touches your garden site. Allow the rain to soak your creative soul.
6. Do the same as in the first recommendation but when you close your eyes, focus on sounds. LIsten to the wind blowing through leaves, bird calls, crickets, frogs and more. Your wildlife garden surroundings may already possess a melodious chorus. Know these sounds as local wildlife too will be listening.
7. Think complexity in plant choices. I compare this to my favorite oriental buffet. The more on the food bar (especially the sushi or sashimi counter) the better. Pollinators and wildlife expect variety. Stick with the 10-20-30 rule for species diversity.
8. Go and talk to the ‘ole timers’ in your neighborhood. Ask them what their parents and grandparents planted. Trade starts and cuttings. The ‘Pass Along Plants’ approach always produces smiles and unique varieties.
9. Have fun surfing the web for wildlife garden ideas. This blog is a great place to start.
10. Dream. Every night before sleep, think of your Eden-to-be. Take your wildest dreams and fashion into reality.
Computer aided drafting can always produce nice clean designs on paper.
But it is the reflection of your spirit that instills personality into your native plant and wildlife garden creation.
© 2012, Kevin Songer. All rights reserved. This article is the property of Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Kevin Songer
Amen! Garden design ‘rules’ (like many other rules,) are made to be broken!
My mom had a somewhat ‘new agey’ garden designer when she and her Garden Buddy moved to a new state and their retirement home on 68 wooded acres. They wanted a naturalistic, pollinator-friendly design for their foundation landscape. The designer decided where to place the plants by ‘asking’ them where they wanted to be. I’m not sure exactly what the plants told her, but 20 years later the garden is still going strong, it’s still beautiful, and even with all the wonderful and rare natives growing in their meadows and woods, the foundation landscape is full of life. It’s fantastic for them to be able to step out their front door and enjoy their garden, teeming with pollinators, birds, frogs, and other visitors. It’s a source of endless discovery, pleasure, and delight for all of us who visit them, too, including their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
At the time I thought asking the plants where they wanted to be was kind of a crackpot way to design a garden, but actually, I’ve found from first-hand experience it works very well! :O
Linda recently posted..Wildflower Wednesday
Absolutely, Linda. Sometimes the best design is unexplainable….
Kevin Songer recently posted..Florida Permaculture Plant for Living Walls, Florida Green Roofs and Backyards, Seminole Pumpkin, Cucurbita Moschata
“Right-of-ways are virtual native plant nurseries waiting to be explored. ” Nothing could be farther from the truth. According the Plants of the Chicago Region by Swink and Wilhelm, “150 Eurasion weeds dominate more than 95% of the vegetated landscape. These weeds are highly adapted to the kinds of disturbances and landscape alterations that have characterized sedentary agricultural societies since primitive times.” Not until late summer with the advent of Sawtooth Sunflowers and early fall with Canada Goldenrod and Aster pillosus are any native species seen along the roadsides of our region.
Hi Pat! Guess my view was somewhat regional. I live in a metropolitan area where there are thousands of species of native wildflowers, grasses and plants growing in the right of ways. I am sorry to hear the rights of way in your area is dominated by exotic invasives. In the meanwhile, if you ever make it to Florida’s east coast I’ll be glad to point you to brillant stands of natives!
Kevin
Kevin Songer recently posted..Florida Permaculture Plant for Living Walls, Florida Green Roofs and Backyards, Seminole Pumpkin, Cucurbita Moschata
Kevin, I love your 10 tips! You’ve captured the essence(s) of the meditative state that I get into when I hand weed, especially in an area where I’m developing a new bed, but you’ve pulled it together in a much more straight forward manner and included a few extra points that I need to add in when I’m planning ahead.
And as far as garden design is concerned, while I understand design principles, in my own garden I tend to “grow it” far more organically – developing new beds based on the loss of a big tree or on the need to slow water down as it flows across a low area in our yard, rather than on an overarching formal plan. Plant choices are highly influenced by what I’m able to snag at our few local native plant sales, as well as by the plants that are flourishing in the garden and providing excellent wildlife habitat as they do so – I tend to put at least of few of those “freebies” in each new bed, thus creating continuity without too much conscious effort.
Our local county is, unfortunately, zealous in spraying to reduce broadleaf “weeds” (aka wildflowers), but I’ve found that the county to our south is more relaxed about making roadside ditches into linear lawns; thus, I’ve been able to find quite a few wildflowers along their roads. I do not dig these native beauties, but I do stop and collect seeds occasionally, which I then broadcast to overseed into our small, overgrazed pasture. With any luck, in 50 years or so, this little pasture will have returned to a tiny pocket of biodiversity in an otherwise highly regimented, agricultural landscape.
Gaia gardener recently posted..The Practice of the Wild
Gaia gardener: Thank you for the comment, and collecting seeds is so educational and sustainable. I like to think of all the information stored within the DNA of one tiny seeds – more information than on my Imac computer! Nature is so truly amazing.
Kevin Songer recently posted..Florida Permaculture Plant for Living Walls, Florida Green Roofs and Backyards, Seminole Pumpkin, Cucurbita Moschata
This is a fantastic post, and just in time for me. I’m converting my backyard in to a native garden. I have lists of what plants are native to my zipcode. But all the information is just so overwhelming. Instead of plotting and “engineering” it, I prefer your tips. I’ll put them to use.
Neita recently posted..Monday Evening Wildlife in Edgewood
Neita: Thank you for your comment. I do hope you will keep us up-to-date with your native garden project in future posts. Let us know what you discover!
Kevin Songer recently posted..Florida Permaculture Plant for Living Walls, Florida Green Roofs and Backyards, Seminole Pumpkin, Cucurbita Moschata
I love your style, Kevin! This reminds me of Owen Dell’s book Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies, where he said the best garden tool is a lawn chair — when we take the time to sit and just observe the activity in our gardens, we are so much more informed about the ecosystem that is our garden, and we will hopefully learn to make healthier choices in what we choose to do to that ecosystem.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Why Focus on Ecosystem Gardening When There is So Much Wrong in the World?