A recent visit to the Cove Island Wildlife Sanctuary (CIWS) in Stamford, CT was truly a feast for the senses. It was a dull, dreary day and I was the only person walking around CIWS. But the garden was teeming with activity. The sounds of birds and insects were all around me, a steady buzz that filled my ears. Birds and butterflies were flitting about, sampling the late season feast. And who know what kinds of local wildlife was skulking around in between the lush, tall grasses.
CIWS is a relatively new habitat garden here in Stamford. The 11-acre sanctuary, formerly used as a dumping ground by the city, has been transformed into an oasis for both native plant and native wildlife lovers. It truly is a birder’s paradise, it was even the temporary home last year to a wayward South American bird, the Fork-Tailed Flycatcher, who somehow lost its way while migrating.
Here’s a quick look at the autumn splendor of this native plant garden…
But as I was walking around CIWS, initially looking at it from a habitat gardener’s perspective, I realized there were some important garden design lessons to be learned here, too.
Mix It Up
I’m sure some of the native plant purists reading this post are about to yell at their computers, but I think it’s perfectly acceptable in home gardens to mix native plants and non-invasive non-native plants, including annuals. As you can see from this photo, the simple introduction of the bright red annual Saliva coccinea ‘Lady in Red’ adds not only visual interest to the garden but also some late season nectar.
‘Lady in Red’ acts like a beacon, you can see her from the parking lot, beckoning you to come closer and take a look at her treasures. Every garden needs a few drama queens to spice things up. Using annuals let’s you mix things up and try out new color schemes without making a lasting commitment.
Plant in Multiples
I remember when I first starting gardening, I lusted after so many different plants and I just had to have them all. So I bought one of everything and planted them all in my garden. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my garden looked, well, silly - there was no continuity, no rhythm, no sense of balance or symmetry.
From a garden design perspective, it’s best to choose just a few different plants and then plant them in multiples. Instead of choosing three different coneflower cultivars, do some research, find the one that will perform best in your garden and then plant three different plants of the same cultivar together. Not only will your garden look better, the local wildlife will appreciate that arrangement, too.
A quick look at this photo shows the perennials, grasses and even the conifers in the distance are all planted in multiples. The garden flows better than if there were one of this and one of that planted all over the place. It’s easy to translate this design principle, even on a much smaller scale, into your own garden.
Berried Treasure
Wildlife gardeners understand how important it is to include native plants that offer fall fruits and berries in their gardens. They are an important food source for an array of wildlife after all. But if you look at the same native trees and shrubs purely from a landscape design perspective, they still deserve a place in your garden. They offer a much-needed pop of color and add another layer of texture to your garden at a time when, let’s face it, many of your other plants are declining.
And don’t forget, those same native trees and shrubs also flower in the spring, so you get at least two seasons of interest from them. Many also have attractive, brightly colored fall foliage, adding another season of color to your garden. These multi-seasons trees can have a major impact on gardens of all sizes, but especially in small gardens where each plant must earn its keep.
The next time you’re in a large-scale native plant garden like the Cove Island Wildlife Sanctuary remember to slow down and look around with your garden designers’ glasses on. There are so many lessons to be learned here that you can take home and make your own wildlife garden beautiful.
© 2011 – 2012, Debbie Roberts. 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 Debbie Roberts
In my garden ‘Lady in Red’ salvia has proven to be a beacon to hummingbirds. I make sure to plant it near my house so I can just sit back and watch them feed.
Linda, I can only imagine how enticing the hummingbirds must find ‘Lady in Red’. That’s a good dsign strategy to plant her close to the house so you can watch all the activity.
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs
Very nice!
And I mix natives and well-behaved immigrants myself at home all the time, so you’re in good company. (I try to run about sixty percent native.) This does mean that I suffer from one-of-everything-itis as well, though. *grin* I’ve gotten better, though—the first three years were figuring out what could grow, and now I try to go “Hey, that did GREAT! I’ll get three more!” as often as I go “Oooh, I don’t have that yet…”
It, um, sort of works. Kinda. Except when I go to the annual native plant sale and they have all these amazing plants that I’ve never seen before…
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Ursula, I’m glad to hear I’m not alone. I have to admit that I still do the one-of-everything thing in parts of my garden. I really like to try and grow a wide range of plants that I might use for my garden design clients, that way I know firsthand how they perform. Or at least that’s what I tell myself:)
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs
When I plant a new area with natives, I add non-native annuals between the young natives so that there is color and blooms the first year. At the end of the year, the annuals die out and the following year, the natives have established themselves enough to fill in the gaps and start blooming. This method is especially nice in the public areas of my yard.
Tim,
That’s a fantastic use of annuals in a native plant garden. It can be hard to wait while a newly planted garden grows in, especially when you’re looking for some serious color.
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs
Debbie wonderful post. I also do not have all natives. I mix it up so there is year round interest. I do love the annuals for color and am careful to avoid invasives. My meadow looks a lot like your pictures. It was seeded and then mother Nature has taken over.
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Debbie, I did not shout at the computer either. Since I first turned the soil over in my gardens over thirty years ago I too have many non native plants here. I am working hard at removing the invasive plants and shrubs. Some I inherited with the property and others I mistakenly planted. I am not a purist but I certainly can admire those that are. I think to encourage and inspire others to include natives and to add more each year is a good way to educate and work with many gardeners who are just learning about the benefits and importance of planting native plants. It is not realistic to assume that anyone would want to dig out their collection of well behaved non natives. I have made a commitment to only add natives here on out but I do appreciate the beauty in your salvia. Very interesting post.
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Thanks, Carol. I’m glad you found the post interesting. I think many native plant lovers are in the same boat as you, planting more and more native plants while still wanting to keep their favorite non-invasive non-native plants. I know I couldn’t imagine my garden without my peonies or dwarf Japanese maples. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for some arrowwood viburnums or echinacea, too.
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs
Great post! Since we created our brand-new flower and vegetable beds last winter and spring, I’ve been committed to native design for the flowers, with a few exceptions, as you and your commenters agree. It has worked beautifully (and tastily), and is still rolling along here in Zone 5 western NY. And it’s not just the flora, but the fauna it attracts that are so fascinating. Levels and levels of delight and discovery.
I was just given some seeds of a cardinal sage (looked like Lady in Red to me) by an organic farmer friend for a spot in my front flower bed for next year. For some reason the hummers were rejecting my usually reliable agastache this year and I am determined to have them stay longer next year!
Sigh! Just goes to show that a 3- foot square patch of foreign plants in a 4-acre meadow is harmful as “people plant what they see”. Most of the public have no clue about the need for native plants but if they see this pretty red plant in a wildlife conservation area, they’ll assume it must be good for wildlife. Further, this annual hadn’t been in the ground 4 months, when here it is on Facebook and NPWG being held up as a great example for home garden design.
It would be fine to plant foreign annuals that our insects can not eat, if the ratio of less than one square foot per acre were kept. Is that going to happen? Also do those focusing on the saliva, notice the more subtle beauty of the near-by little blue stem, one of our state’s best hosts for a wide variety of butterfly larva? Will they take that idea home too?
Sure throwing in the salvia was an easy, fast cheap way to get long season color but is that what nature preserves are about? With more reserach, several local genotype perennials could have been found achieved a similar effect.
Sue, I guess a sigh is better than a scream:) You are completely right, ‘people plant what they see’, and one of the goals with this post was to show ‘regular’ gardeners — those who haven’t jumped on the native plant bandwagon yet — how easy it is to combine native and non-native plants. As you picked up on, the photo I chose to use of the salvia showcased the subtle beauty of the nearby little bluestem. I’ll bet more gardeners have salvia in their gardens than little bluestem so showing the two plants together might prompt a homeowner to take a 2nd look at bluestem they next time they see it at a nursery.
I appreciate that you approach the use of native plants from a landscape restoration standpoint. I like to think I add another layer by also looking at native plants through the lens of landscape design. We’re both working towards the same goal – encouraging people to plant more native plants and create more wildlife habitat. I guess my approach involves baby steps and showing people how easy it is to translate the aspects of what they like in a wildlife garden like CIWS into their own backyards.
Dealing with garden design clients on a daily basis, and quite frankly hearing many of the negative impressions they initially get from large-scale native plant landscapes that can look like an unmaintained jumble of plants with no rhyme or reason, makes me realize many home gardeners view native plants gardens with more than a little bit of anxiety and trepidation. The baby steps approach breaks the use of native plants down for them into a much more manageable and actionable plan.
Many homeowners simply don’t realize there are tons of native plants in the home gardeners they see and enjoy in their neighborhoods. Rather, they look at a place like CIWS and think that is the only way to be native. And we both know it isn’t. I like to view gardening with a native plants on a continuum…using some native plants is better than none and using many native plants is better than planting only a few. For some gardeners, the ultimate goal is 100% native plants. But for others it’s not, and that’s OK, too.
Frankly, I’d love to see a place like CIWS embrace it’s native plant heritage as much as it does it’s wildlife sanctuary heritage and start to educate visitors on the use of native plants and their value to wildlife in a home garden setting. Perhaps a brief explanation on the chalkboard, along with the recent wildlife sightings, of why specific plants were planted, including the annual salvia, might be a good step in the education process. Because we both know, ‘people plant what they see’.
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs
While I agree with you, Sue, I think it would be a good guide to suggest what local genotypes would have provided the wildlife value intended as much as the Salvia suggested here. I think people are struggling to integrate natives having been left with lots of non-native ornamentals in their own back yards. It takes time. My strategy is to remove the non-native or invasive and replace it with a “native” (still a term that is unclear to me) one plant at a time. I admit to being attracted to the aforementioned salvias, however, because honey bees love them. While I have not succumbed, just what natives would feed my bees in such an effective way?
Suzanne, I think you’ve touched on an important point, many home gardeners are faced with an established garden that has lots of non-native plants. Even if you’d like to have more native plants, the process takes a long time for most of us. Like you, I try to add natives when I am replacing existing plants or creating new gardens on my property. We all have to find the mix that works best for us an our gardens.
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs
Hi, Debbie. I love that you highlighted the features and rewards of including woody plants, particularly those with berries. One of the best things we can do to increase songbird habitat is to plant our native berry-bearing shrubs. My top choices for northern US include cranberrybush viburnum (V. trilobum), which brings the flocks of cedar waxwings in winter, and the serviceberries (Amelanchier) that are delicious to me as well as to robins, orioles, and catbirds. Thanks for plugging this gardener’s favorite plants, the native shrubs!
Evelyn, I am designing a garden now for a client who wants LOTS of berries so she can enjoy the birds in her garden. We are using both serviceberry and cranberrybush viburnum along with arrowwood viburnum, chokeberry and of course, our native flowering dogwoods. It’s a fun project to be able to use so many berrying plants.
Debbie Roberts recently posted..Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs