Finding the optimal diversity of plant species will encourage more wildlife, including beneficial insects.
Native plants offer the gardener an overwhelming array of benefits, but they are not without controversy. Despite all the evidence that landscaping with more native plants is healthier for people and for wildlife, some gardeners seem intent on attacking the whole notion.
Mention the concept of “biodiversity“, on the other hand, and you will find nearly uniform support. Biodiversity is so obviously a good thing – like Mom and apple pie – that no one could possibly be opposed to it. Right?
While biodiversity can be a (very) good thing, like any good thing too much of it can be bad.
For example, when we introduce a new invasive plant to a forest we are (temporarily) increasing the biodiversity of that forest: more species exist in the forest than did before, but this is clearly not a good thing.
Large groupings of host plants, like milkweed, are more likely to attract and support bees and butterflies.
Too much of a good thing can also be a problem, even in a native plant landscape. Attempting to plant too many different kinds of native plants in your garden or landscape can often be counterproductive, and here is why: over-diversification.
No matter where you live, there are probably many thousands of species of plants that are native to your county or state. Hike a mile or two through a nearby wild forest or prairie and you will likely spot hundreds of species of native plants.
But few gardeners own yards the size of a state, county, forest, or prairie. Most gardens are measured in the hundreds, maybe thousands, of square feet instead. And for the native plant enthusiasts tending these smaller parcels trying to squeeze in hundreds or thousands – or even dozens – of different species of native plants can be a mistake.
Every type of wildlife has certain habitat needs. This can be a type of ground cover, or a certain plant. Wildlife will use their senses, like smell or sight, to locate these habitat needs and if you dilute them too much in your landscape you run the risk of failing to support the insects or birds you intend to attract.
A study of gardens in England published in 2007 concluded, in part: “Entire gardens, or large parts thereof, given over to individual land-cover types, with different gardens providing coverage of different types, would be ecologically more valuable.”
In other words, it is ideal if each gardener treats their own garden as a single type of community because the network of different gardeners (with different community types) throughout a city or town provides the right amount and scale of diversity.
Planting three purple milkweed plants in a garden might attract some Monarch butterflies, but planting three dozen of them is much more likely to do so. Planting one or two turtlehead plants might attract a Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, but planting a hundred square feet of turtlehead is much more likely to be an attractant.
Large groupings of plants are attractive to people and to wildlife.
It may seem unnatural to entertain the idea of planting fewer species of native plants, but it makes sense once you think it through. An acre of prairie might contain 75 to 100 different species of native plants, but any given square foot within that acre might contain just six or eight species. We are still aiming for biodiversity, but now we are paying attention to the scale at which that biodiversity exists.
If you are gardening in a small area (hundreds or thousands of square feet) there is only so much variety you can offer to wildlife before you become self-defeating. In a four hundred square-foot garden, you should not aim to be all things to all animals: the haphazard plant shopping model (“three of these”, five of those, one of that”) just won’t cut it if your goal is to have your yard function at its ecological optimum.
Here are three steps to optimize your biodiversity:
- Decide your habitat type. Don’t try to cram canopy trees and an urban meadow both onto a small residential lot: pick your habitat type, then stick to it.
- Pick your plant palette. Chose a handful (maybe a dozen, no more) of plants that are locally native and that are well-suited to your soil type, shade conditions, etc.
- Plant a lot of plants. Remember the prairie example I mentioned earlier? It had six to eight plants per square foot, so don’t be afraid to plant your native plants densely. No more leaving 18 or 24 inches between plants in a wildlife garden!
Don’t be afraid that by specializing in a particular type of habitat, or that strongly emphasizing only a few species of plants, that your garden will be boring. As far as wildlife are concerned, nothing could be more appealing.
© 2012, Vincent Vizachero. 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 Vincent Vizachero
I am so guilty of this. Even though I know better, I want it all. Sometimes at the expense of aesthetic and now ecological integrity. A fantastic dose of reality check.
Thanks for the comment, Laura. I’m guilty of it too: to some degree we are the cutting edge of a new approach to ecological gardening, so it should not surprise us that we all keep refining our approach.
Oh lord, aren’t we all? I can’t see a new native without going “Oooh! I don’t have one of THOSE yet!”
In fairness, though, as long as we have a mass of the few key plants, we can probably be forgiven for cramming in the occasional bottle gentian or Drummond’s lily in the corners. I hope.
UrsulaV recently posted..As Good An Explanation As Any
Ursula, I’m sure the wildlife will forgive you the bottle gentian
Seriously, I think you have it right: provide a critical mass of a the key species for your habitat type, then spice it up with additional species.
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..Creating An Urban Meadow with Native Plants
Thought provoking and well done, Vincent! Thanks for this.
Loret recently posted..Army Lives!
I appreciate it, Loret. It’s a complicated topic, and I’m not sure I did it justice, but it was fun to research!
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..Creating An Urban Meadow with Native Plants
Oh..I am a novice gardener and never even thought of this. I don’t have much room, but I decided to plant more for monarchs. I will have to take this into consideration for my planning for next spring. I want to change the front lawn to plantings…Thank you …Michelle
Rambling Woods recently posted..Nature Notes (#185)~We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it.~George Eliot,
I’ve been thinking about this for my front yard, which I’m still wary about turning into a mini prairie. I know that the key is to put in shortgrass prairie plants that sorta look like lawn, this means, in a way, a monoculture. I also think that simplicity in design may also ease neighborhood views into acceptance more readily, vs. just going all Victorian color palate or something. thanks for this.
Benjamin Vogt recently posted..Of Cats and Fall
I have been blogging about a plant a month for an imaginary garden. Imaginary, because I have many more species in my garden. Interesting to have a wildlife habitat motivation for planting ‘less is more’!
Diana of Elephant’s Eye recently posted..Melianthus for November’s Dozen for Diana
A great article. This point really needs to be made more in native forums. Not only does the “one of everything” approach have limited wildlife value, but it creates chaotic gardens that turn people off from native plants. Native gardens have a real problem now: we enthusiasts have created too many sloppy imitations of nature. The current aesthetic is–I would argue–too anti-design.
We must seduce people into loving native plants by showing they are drop dead gorgeous and relevant in a typical suburban yard. One of the best ways we can improve the aesthetic experience of natives is to mass them. Massing gives them legibility and power.
A great topic!
Thanks, Thomas. I’m glad you brought up the aesthetic benefit of concentrating on fewer species: it is a message that definitely needs reinforcement, I think.
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..Creating An Urban Meadow with Native Plants
Great piece, Vincent! Thank you. I agree with you on both the community ecology level and on the design level. As Thomas Rainer says in his comment above, if we use a more limited palette of native plants and mass them, they begin to look like what people expect a garden to look like. That helps with the conventional aesthetic. I tell my clients to think of of half a dozen plants they love and build a garden around those, not many dozens. As you say, pick a community type, and within it, pick your favorite few plants of each strata of that community (trees, vines, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers). Look at the natural communities around us; they develop with keystone species, and the relationships they have with other species.
Susan J. Tweit recently posted..Giving Thanks for Hospice
Interesting concept Vincent and one I will contemplate a bit more although where I live the canopy trees and meadow do exist naturally and I was lucky enough to keep them both although the meadow is small.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Gardening with Confidence
Thanks, Donna.
I was really writing for gardeners with small spaces, and if you have enough room for lots of canopy trees and a large meadow then I’m sure your wildlife will be quite happy!
Vincent Vizachero recently posted..Creating An Urban Meadow with Native Plants
Good article, Vincent. As part of our Green Roof studies we’ve focused many times on biodiversity. From my perspective there is incomplete and less incomplete biodiversity. Sometimes we get stuck thinking in terms of Genus and Species. Species biodiversity may not be as attractive to pollinators and wildlife as Family biodiversity. I love studying glade and prairie type ecosystems where the biodiversity across a year is so very high at the Family level. Now my brain is trained to think in terms of plant Families we drive down the road or walk through the forests. Living by the 10-20-30 rule where no more than 10% of my created landscape is the same Species, no than 20% the same Genus and 30% the same Family we have created small, 1000 SF rooftops with 50 or more plant Families represented, and hundreds of Genus and Species. They are alive with life, both plant and animal. I liken it to a Chinese buffet. The moer choices the better, especially the many different types of sushi rolls on small plates. Great article! Kevin
Well done Vincent! Although I can be very guilty of wanting to have some of everything, I agree that’s not always productive. Since I ripped my entire garden out this summer because it had gotten overrun with too many invasives, I’m in the process of trying to choose very carefully the direction I want my garden to take as I start planting this spring. I’m going to concentrate on butterflies and add lots of host plants and nectar from early spring through late fall.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..The 5 Pillars of Ecosystem Gardening
Vincent, Great post! I will try to set a personal example in my front yard this year, keeping your advice in mind!
Becky Young recently posted..A "Do Less" Resolution
Thank you for the practical information that I will apply to my small garden! I’m gardening for the butterfly in a very small space, in the yard of a mobile home lot, that’s a small space!
I LOVE the pic of the Tuberosa plants & I’m going to add to my existing patch until it looks like the pic, it is beautiful & stunning! I see the logic of planting densely, as it provides cover for the various insects, etc. This simple change in my butterfly garden will make a huge difference! Please stop by my page to see my butterfly garden at :https://www.facebook.com/MyButterflyGarden