Landscaping the Native Way

by Ethan Lockhart

            Long before man settled many parts of the world, the landscape was comprised of functioning ecosystems that had evolved over time to produce intricate and unique entities.  As the land began to be settled, these ecosystems were stressed and altered into what we today call landscaping.  Landscaping can be defined as: to improve the appearance of an area of land as by planting trees, shrubs, or grass, or altering the contours of the ground. Landscaping around the urban environment is an important practice to many people.  Homeowners everywhere take pride in their property which results in neatly kept lawns with beautiful floral displays to add to the aesthetics and value of the home.  I do not disagree with this practice.  My issue comes about with the overuse of non-native, or exotic, plants within these landscapes.  I believe that an aesthetically pleasing and functional landscape can be built without the use of fancy exotics resulting in many benefits for the environment, the community, and the economy.

             Growing up I always had summer jobs doing landscaping.  Pops thought it built character being out in the hot summer sun doing manual labor, and I do not disagree.  In fact I enjoyed playing in the dirt and mowing.  The whole time, I took orders from boss; he would tell me where to put what plants, I dug the holes, threw some mulch down, and violà!  Instant landscape.  However, I did not pay attention to or care what I was planting.  It was not until I got into college and had courses in landscaping and ecosystem management that I realized how important it was to use native plants within the ornamental landscape.  The main reason we should use native plants within artificial landscapes is because we have already altered the natural system that was there first, so it is our duty to do our best to replicate what existed before.  There are several other benefits of using native plants though.

            The biggest benefit of using native plants within the landscape is the impact it could have on wildlife.  In urban areas, development has reduced and altered the land by taking away certain food and cover that comprises wildlife habitat, which has ultimately reduced their populations.  Through installing native plants within the landscape, we can give the necessary food and cover back to the wildlife, which would help maintain their populations and the balance of the system.  Another huge benefit of using native plants is the fact that exotics are not being used.  There are many reasons why exotics are bad, but namely they alter the relationships that native species have already created which affects ecosystem function.  Most people are familiar with the detrimental effects to ecosystems in Wisconsin already caused by exotic plants and animals such as buckthorn, garlic mustard, zebra mussels and purple loosestrife.  The use of exotics in the landscape could possibly spread to the surrounding environment and cause additional disturbance to the ecosystem.

To prevent these catastrophic occurrences, it just takes a little forethought of the homeowner to use native plants instead of exotic ones, not a hard thing to do.  I believe the biggest barrier to homeowners using native plants is that they are not aware of the advantages of using them over exotics.  With some education and raised awareness, people will clearly see how easy it is to use native plants in their landscapes and still get the desired beauty they are seeking without using potentially harmful exotics.  That being said, time to suggest to mom that the big bush in the front yard from Europe has got to go!