The word “landscape” can refer to all the visible features of an area, whether found on the side of a mountain, bordering a parking lot, or on the side yard of a home. It also refers to the action of making a piece of land more attractive by adding ornamental features and plants. The fact that a landscape can be viewed and admired, or actively designed and created, speaks volumes to the importance of the landscape to our quality of life. People can landscape acreage, walkways, flowerboxes, or the corner of a yard, so it is no wonder that landscaping books, how-to videos, and garden tours are so popular. The Florida Native Plant Society wants to tap into this enthusiasm and highlight beautiful landscapes throughout Florida.
Many FNPS members are talented landscape designers, and FNPS chapters may have observed landscaped areas around town, or participated in their creation. By highlighting these landscapes, FNPS hopes to encourage members, design professionals, the public, and businesses to use more native plants. Twenty years ago, the palette of available native plants was limited, but with refined propagation techniques, shared information, and increased numbers of native nurseries, landscapers no longer have any excuse not to use Florida natives.
Recently, the FNPS Education and Landscape Committee (ELC) was tasked with reviewing the landscape awards for 2023. In the coming weeks you will see information about submitting your favorite residential or commercial landscape, or perhaps applying to recognize a habitat restoration by a non-profit or government agency. The deadline for applications is August 31, 2023, and the winners will be announced October 1, 2023, kicking off October’s Native Plant month. For those interested in applying, the four categories are 1) residential single family, 2) residential multi-family and non-residential (commercial, office, school, church, government), 3) restoration site, and 4) butterfly or wildflower garden.
To enable the judges to evaluate a submitted site, it must have a minimum 2-year grow-in period. Along with a planting plan,
plant list and photographs, applicants will need to supply a narrative of the project. For example, what were the preexisting conditions of the site? What is the landscape design inspiration? Is there any relationship to the original native plant community? What wildlife and pollinators are using the landscape? What creative solutions were used to solve challenges? What sustainable practices were used? These questions are just a few of the responses needed for the judges to understand why the site is special and deserving of an award. The landscape awards are more than a beauty contest – the “Garden of Excellence” award acknowledges the hard work it takes to establish a native garden and to support the environmental principles embodied in a native landscape. Those gardens not reaching the “Excellence” level might be eligible for a “Garden of Honor” award by the judges.
A landscape scorecard which considers eight design elements has been developed for the judges to use in evaluating submissions. For example, it considers the site context and whether the submitted landscape protects a floodplain, improves a degraded site, or conserves a habitat for threatened and endangered species. Pre-design assessment and planning will be evaluated – did the applicant do a pH test or identify invasive species? Water is an important factor in any landscape, so does the site reduce onsite water use, manage stormwater, or protect the shoreline? Does it include foraging and sunning areas, provide for larval host plants, leave oak leaves, and reduce the lawn footprint? Even the operation and maintenance of the landscapes will be considered.
All applicants will receive a copy of their scorecard so they can learn where improvements can be made. The scorecard may also be used as the basis for future ELC workshops and seminars to help educate the public about native landscapes.
Since the award showcases native plants, applicants for the different categories must show that their landscape is 75% native CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
Article by Harriet Festing and Stephen F. Eisenman
Article by David Roddenberry
Article by Lauren Moscar
A Modern House and Native Garden in Old Micanopy
Whenmy husband, Stephen and I decided in 2018 to move from our 12th floor co-op in Chicago to rural, central Florida, we wanted different things. He wanted a mid-century modern-style house, like the one he lived in years earlier in Los Angeles, and a garden to match. That meant a Garrett Eckbo type landscape, with closely cropped lawns, pavers, planters, trellises, and a studied continuity of inside and outside.
I was less concerned about the details of the house but wanted a diverse native garden that would attract insects, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Before moving to the U.S. in 2005, I lived in the village of Wye, in Kent, England, in a former council house with a lovely backyard garden and a small pond. I loved working in the garden and treasured the sight of butterflies and the sound of the frogs on summer nights. I come from a family of gardeners. My mother, Sally, keeps a lovely garden in rural Norfolk, and wrote a biography of the
great British horticulturalist and designer Gertrude Jekyll. My father, Michael, tends an allotment – it’s been an essential part of his life since his retirement as a research scientist, and provides fresh fruits and vegetables all year round.
As things turned out, Stephen got the modern-style house he wanted, designed for us by Bradley Walters from the University of Florida, and I got the garden I dreamed of, or at least the beginnings of one (aren’t all gardens works in progress?). The latter started out looking like an abandoned football pitch (Americans say “soccer field”) with a few, tall, stately palm trees in the middle, and a collection of misshapen trees along the perimeter. The whole lot, house included, is one acre, located in the middle of the picturesque town of Micanopy (pop. 600, zone 8B), about 15 miles south of Gainesville. There are magnolias on the north and south borders of the property, and a few red cedars on the west edge, along with a large water oak.
Article and photos by Harriet Festing and Stephen F. Eisenman
An equally big live oak is on the east perimeter. There are also a few 40+ year old orange and grapefruit trees clustered to the west; they look awful but produce delicious fruit.
After the house was completed in spring, 2019, we consulted a pair of landscape architects, Kostantinos Alexakis and his wife Huiqing Kuang from the University of Florida. They provided us with a basic plan and plant list. We then hired some contractors to dig a 15-foot oval pond, and received our first delivery of plants from Sweet Bay Nursery, located near Tampa (they are brilliant nurserymen and they deliver if the order is large enough). The results, three years later, are visible in the accompanying photographs. We love what we have accomplished, but still have a long way to go. We are hardly professionals, but we have learned a lot and had fun. Here are eight lessons we have learned that could be useful for other people like ourselves who want to start a Florida native garden more or less from scratch:
1. Plants grow where they want to go.
Our plansfeaturedneat,decorative beds of largeflower false rosemary (Conradina grandiflora), mixed with spider and string lilies (Hymenocallis latifolia and Crinum americanum), blazing star (Liatris spicata), and blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis). Larger shrubs would consist of coontie (Zamia integrifolia), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), and wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa). The pond was to be bordered by coastal doghobble (Leucothoe axillaris), pipestem (Agarista populifolia) and Chapman’s goldenrod (Solidago odora var. chapmanii ). After a day in the garden, I’d go to sleep dreaming of well-ordered beauty. But here’s what happened: the largeflower false rosemary died immediately; the lilies got eaten by the eastern lubber grasshoppers; and the blue porterweed expanded everywhere. Meanwhile, I learned that some of the plants I thought were weeds, such as beggarticks (Bidens alba) and Florida pellitory (Parietaria floridana), and was furiously pulling out, were actually native and critical food for birds and butterflies. My dream of order has been abandoned and I’ve learned to relax a bit and enjoy a different kind of beauty – and to be a little more careful when it comes to weeding.
2. Just when you think you’ve sussed it, you realize you haven’t.
We ordered some Elliot’s lovegrass in early winter. They arrived a brilliant green and soon produced the prettiest sea of white flowers. We liked them so much, we ordered dozens more, gleefully edging our beds with them. The next winter, t hey all died back – poof! The story was nearly as bad with the wild coffee. We practically filled our woods with them, but the first hard frost killed about half of them. The demise of the Florida anise (Illicium floridanum) was slower, but after three years, most of them are dead too – we just couldn’t keep the soil moist enough for them. We’re learning from our mistakes
– though the plants have paid the price. The lesson is to a) buy locally when possible so that the plants are matched to the micro-climate; b) buy young plants so you won’t lose so much money if they die (the plugs we get are under two dollars); and, c) place plants in a range of places around the yard in the hope that some survive.
3. Derive your structure from your landscape design, not the plants. Whenthecontractors dug our pond, they also carved out a swale to collect water from our roof to feed the pond. The surplus soil was then piled up to create a serpent-like mound (Stephen’s idea) on the south side of the property near the road. The height of the three-foot tall, 30-foot-long mound, combined with the depth of the swale and pond gave the yard some relief, and guided our planting. We gradually created a roughly circular lawn, oval or oblong beds and many paths between them. We also added bird baths, a sculpture, some snags, bird boxes and seats. When winter comes, most of the flowers are gone and the grasses turn brown, but much of the visual beauty – based upon contour and shape – remains.
4. Include some dramatic plants in your garden. In the winter, I love the brilliant green of slash pine (Pinus elliottii ) and longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) against the blue of the silver saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), plus the deep green spikes of Adam’s needle (Yucca filamentosa) and the menacing grove of Spanish bayonet (Yucca aloifolia). In spring, the white wild indigo (Baptisia alba) pops out among the sand cordgrass (Spartina bakeri). In the summer, the profusion of blackeyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) and coneflowers are what attracts the eye. In the fall, it’s the towers of blazing star, psychedelic against the red of the tropical sage (Salvia coccinea) and blue porterweed.
5. It’s not about us; it’s about the critters. Every morning,Stephen and I take our coffee, tea, two pairs of binoculars, and bird book to sit on out on the patio. This morning we saw a couple of red shouldered hawks nuzzling together on the street lamp, a black-and-white warbler climbing a palm tree, a Baltimore oriole on the top of the water oak, and three blue birds exploring our bird boxes. Our lawn has been converted to a tunnel empire by the moles – good for
aerating the soil. An armadillo has roughed up the herb garden, but he’s welcome here. Large brush piles and pieces of limestone are homes for snakes, and the dead stalks of goldenrods and Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium fistulosum) are available for nesting bees. We have even had turtles and a small alligator in our pond – fortunately not at the same time. I used to garden only for my own pleasure, now we’re making a home for others.
6. You can’t beat the ants.
Florida has dozens of species of ants and nearly all of them swarm and bite. The first two years in the garden, my arms and legs were regularly covered in welts and pustules (gross) and I constantly itched. Now, I have somehow found a way to live with them. I always wear gloves and tuck my trousers into my socks, even on hot days. The summer and fall mosquitos are more complicated. For a while, I wore a net over my hat, but that got too hot and made it hard to see. Now, I use a strong repellent, and avoid going out to garden during the times of day when they are worst.
7. We never, ever use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
Except one time, at the beginning, when we had to clear outthe non-native catclaw vine (Dolichandra unguis-cati) from the woods. We tried to do it by hand, but it was impossible! So, we contacted somebody from a commercial company that specializes in ecological restoration. He was careful, professional, discrete and inexpensive – and he disposed of most of the catclaw.
8. Native gardeners in Florida have many allies. We’re blessed by having two wonderful native plant nurseries in Micanopy – Micanopy Wildflowers and Urban Forestry. They’re wholesale not retail, but we buy so many plants, they’re happy to sell to us. Urban Forestry even grows plants to order. Tom and Richard from Sweet Bay Nursery have become our friends, and we’re regular visitors to the wonderful Chiapinni Farm Native Nursery. The Florida Native Gardening Facebook group has been a godsend. I’ve read all of Craig Huegel’s blogs and several of his books (Stephen has gotten a bit jealous of him.) The Florida Native Plant Society database is hugely helpful, and I’ve been enjoying the Florida Wildflower Foundation’s webinars. All of which is to say that there are many friends in the native plant world – one of the unexpected joys of gardening with native plants in Florida!
Heppner, J.B. in collaboration with W.L. Adair, Jr., H.D. Baggett, T.S. Dickel, L.C. Dow, T.C. Emmel, and D.H. Habeck. 2003. Lepidoptera of Florida. Part 1. Introduction and catalog. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas 17: x + 670 pp.
Harriet Festing is co-founder and Executive Director of Anthropocene Alliance, the nation’s largest coalition of frontline communities fighting for climate and environmental justice. When Harriet is not working with climate and environmental disaster survivors, she is tending the garden.
Stephen F. Eisenman is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Northwestern University and the author of many books including Gauguin’s Skirt (1997) and The Cry of Nature: Art and the Making of Animal Rights (2015). He is a regular columnist for Counterpunch and co-founder of Anthropocene Alliance.
The Native Plant Gardens at Sopchoppy Depot Park
David Roddenberry
The tiny Panhandle city of Sopchoppy, best known for its large and colorful Worm Gruntin’ Festival in spring, now boasts a unique native plant garden. More than 120 species of Florida native plants have been installed within a 1.7-acre city park. This daring environmental project was born in 2018. Brought to reality with much aid from members of the Sarracenia Chapter of FNPS, the all-native garden of the new Sopchoppy Depot Park is a living showcase of indigenous plants. It is a rich palette of colors, a pollinator haven, a model for home landscaping with natives, and, potentially, a significant environmental education resource. Now in its fifth year, it is also a test of sustainability.
The Depot Park Gardens at 33 Rose Street, winner of the 2021 FNPS award of excellence for institutional landscapes, displays native flora of the Panhandle. The plantings represent more than 100 genera in more than 50 plant families. Roughly 2,000 individual specimens have been planted and countless seeds have been sown. The total of species for the park exceeds 150 when volunteer and residual natives are counted. Even some rare Panhandle endemics perhaps never before used in gardens are exhibited; the aster Godfrey’s blazing star (Liatris provincialis) and the legume scareweed (Baptisia simplicifolia) of the lemon-yellow summer flowers are both cultivated here because their extremely small global ranges touch the town.
Significant of its name, Depot Park lies just across Rose Street from a historical restoration of the town’s defunct rail depot, last active during WWII and now a museum. A short section of rail-bed no longer apparent lies in the Gardens. In late 2018, the Gardens project returned longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), alive, precisely to this railbed where so many stems
and board feet of the pine must have passed in transit to and from the coastal mills.
The most recent garden addition is a 2,000-square-foot wildflower meadow on a sunny slope near the park’s retention pond. While the principal funding of the Gardens has come from the City of Sopchoppy, the meadow came about through a Florida Wildflower Foundation (FWF) Viva Florida Landscape Demonstration Garden grant awarded to the City in 2021. When the small army of volunteer meadow planters finished on a Saturday in October 2021, more than 800 new specimens of herbs and grasses were in the ground. These represented no fewer than 14 species, and seeds of more than a dozen other species would be sown soon after.
The meadow’s first year, 2022, saw a riot of flowering by many planted species. Some of them were rattlesnakemaster (Eryngium aquaticum) of the carrot family and the blue globe flowers, blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium fistulosum), dense gayfeather (Liatris spicata), Elliott’s aster (Symphyotrichum elliottii), and purple lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis). This past winter, the meadow had its first mow. We’re eager to see the species diversity in 2023.
In addition to a wildflower meadow, the FWF grant funded the replacement of non-native landscaping at the park entrance with cheerful native bloomers. The funds also filled in and added new species to other native plant gardens in the park. When the grant obligations ended in 2022, the $3,000 in FWF grant funds had been matched by $3,400 in City expenditures, and volunteer hours in 2021–22 worth over $48,000!
The plantings today differ greatly from what had been originally conceptualized. After a property donation and the establishment of Depot Park in 2015, the Genesis design
group had created a conceptual plan. By 2018, the Cityhad implemented the planned hardscape: an entrance plaza, an asphalt walking path encircling a central lawn and stage, and a playground, two picnic pavilions, and a retention pond. For landscaping, the conceptual plan proposed traditional southern garden plantings not further specified. A few such plants were installed at the entrance.
At the invitation of Sopchoppy mayor Lara Edwards in early 2018, a team of volunteers coordinated by the Sarracenia Chapter’s Lynn Artz assembled to plan a butterfly garden. This quickly expanded to park-wide, native-plant landscaping. The City could purchase plants and install irrigation. Sarracenia
could advise on plants and provide a list of candidate species, mindful of the longleaf pine and wiregrass ecosystem likely once here but now obliterated. It could recruit volunteers from its members to augment the expected turnout of local citizens to help plant. And critically, local landscape designer Betsy Smith agreed to design the native gardens.
Meetings among Smith, Sarracenia members, and the mayor yielded landscape plans. Smith drew, and specified plants. Planting beds with turfgrass paths were designed along the main-street frontage. These north garden beds would feature showy flowers, including starry rosinweed (Silphium asteriscus), white wild indigo (Baptisia alba), and
butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), and native grasses among scattered longleaf pines. Evergreen trees and shrubs were to fill the front corners and extend southward along the east and west park boundaries. Climbing vines including coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens), Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens), and purple passion-flower (Passiflora incarnata) were proposed for the front wrought iron fence and the pavilion columns, and as companions for selected trees. Further south, the garden design reflected the greater tree canopy and soil moisture. Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia), elderberry (Sambucus nigra), and sweet pinxter azalea (Rhododendron canescens) were given places in the partial shade. Wetland plants were proposed for the retention pond at the south end. A list of plants to purchase jelled in July 2018. The mayor asked the City Council for $10,000. Her request was approved and native plants for the park were swiftly ordered with a first increment of the funds.
Sarracenia volunteers and a host of other community volunteers turned out on two Saturdays in early November 2018 to plant nearly 600 specimens of native trees, shrubs, grasses, vines, and wildflowers. Bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) were planted in the pond, along with the stunning scarlet rosemallow (Hibiscus coccineus) and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). Sopchoppy Depot Park Gardens now existed. They could be seen and touched. They could attract people as well as pollinators. They could begin to teach.
Initially, however, the plants in our native gardens were small and sparse, the flowers few. We counseled patience and reassured the mayor, who faced criticism from the public and other City officials. We learned of the public’s dislike for pines. Fortunately, the 200-foot wrought iron fence along Rose Street was soon covered with verdant masses of foliage and orange-red flowers of coral honeysuckle we had planted. We worked valiantly to increase blooms. We planted only species indigenous to Sopchoppy’s county (Wakulla) or a neighboring
county, making an exception for the showy purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), a Florida native by virtue of its occurrence in a single county that does not touch Wakulla.
Each year, the originally installed plants grew larger and more attractive – while volunteers installed even more. The City continued to purchase needed replacements and additions. Increasingly, volunteers grew plants from seeds and cuttings. Many plants were donated. The Monarch-Milkweed Initiative then in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge contributed seedlings of milkweeds (Asclepias species) and the milkvine Gonolobus suberosus, species unavailable otherwise. Sarracenia Chapter members provided seedlings of the rare Panhandle endemics mentioned above and other species such as the mint scarlet calamint (Calamintha coccinea).
The team (most of us Sarracenia members) has gradually stocked the pond at the south end of the garden with more native wetland plants. One is water cowbane (Tiedemannia filiformis) of the carrot family. Others include Mohr’s coneflower (Rudbeckia mohrii ) and the endemic Florida tickseed (Coreopsis floridana). All three of those were from gifts of homegrown, seed-grown specimens.
The incorporation of this small pond in the project suggests the potential for ecological enhancement as well as beautification of retention ponds everywhere, which would have a vast aggregate acreage. Pollinators, amphibians, and other wildlife might find habitat there – as the black swallowtail and monarch butterflies have in this pond, as evidenced by their colorful larvae feeding on the leaves of the water cowbane and the swamp milkweed, respectively.
The opportunity in 2020 to purchase pitcherplants from a nursery quitting business inspired the addition of a small bog garden. This was executed in the Gardens in 2020 only after consultation with experts to vet the purchased plants for typical (non-hybrid) forms. Three native Sarracenia species now live cheerfully in the bog, two having flowered there. Soon after that installation, a large private collection
of wetland plants needed relocation. We acquired dozens of plants in several species for the pond, among them string-lily (Crinum americanum).
The FWF grant in 2021 propelled Depot Park Gardens into a higher orbit. The funds came with a required emphasis on education. Plant identification signs were soon placed, each with a QR code linked to the online plant information pages at fnps.org. The City of Sopchoppy website [https://www. sopchoppy.org/sopchoppy-depot-park.html] and the Sarracenia Chapter website [https://sarracenia.fnpschapters.org/resources/] both now have information on Depot Park, its native plant gardens, and the importance of native plants. A local landscape architect is producing an interactive map of the gardens, with layered content, for the websites.
With seeds produced in abundance in the Gardens, the idea of giving away seeds seemed a way to encourage visitors to add native wildflowers to their yards. A volunteer with joinery skills took inspiration from the old depot overlooking the park and constructed a miniature replica to hold small packets of free seeds. The “seed depot” now stands in the Gardens,
where it is kept stocked with QR-coded packets of wildflower seeds from the park.
Volunteers help to maintain the gardens at monthly gardening days. Increasingly, teenagers are volunteering to earn Florida Bright Futures Scholarship hours at the park.
Our first teen volunteers were a brother and sister pair in summer 2022. In addition to weeding, watering, and mulching, they started writing a short, illustrated “Flower of the Week” article for a local weekly. This they did for 18 weeks, choosing as the first flower the lovely Stokes’ aster (Stokesia laevis) found in the north gardens. Other volunteers have continued the series, 54 installments (species) through mid-May. The articles are archived online in the Sarracenia Chapter website offering a Gardens “scroll.”
With the diversity of native plants there is a diversity of gardening outcomes. The establishment of cucumberleaf dune sunflower (Helianthus debilis subsp. cucumerifolius – the dune sunflower of the Panhandle) from a few seed-grown specimens was wildly successful. On the other hand, another aster, the self-seeding Leavenworth’s tickseed (Coreopsis
leavenworthii ), has required annual planting. Selected to provide summer flowers with minimal re-stocking, its reseeding is defeated by the pinestraw mulch that aids in weed control. Another potentially problematic outcome affects the meadow established in 2021. The FWF grant’s prescription for site preparation – solarization of the soil under large plastic sheets through summer – was not the weed and grass killer it was supposed to be. In 2023 as we observe the plant diversity in the meadow’s second year, we’re anxious to see how much derives from plants we attempted to solarize.
Ongoing maintenance of Sopchoppy Depot Park Gardens has been challenging and the challenges continue. Long-term coping with aggressive native plants and with several nonnative invasives, whether in the new meadow or elsewhere, is one challenge. The mint Florida betony (Stachys floridana), for instance, is a prolific native that does not rest in its bid to disrupt the Gardens plan. Though we have a dedicated group of hard-working volunteers, the sustainability of the gardens may depend on weeding requirements abating over time. The need to recruit and retain a corps of volunteer gardeners is also constant.
Volunteering with us has benefited not just the Gardens. It has given newcomers a fine opportunity to learn about our native species and assimilate in the community. In her Sabal minor article on the Gardens last January, Sarracenia’s Betsy Rudden gave testimony to this. She recounted her experience as a newcomer to FNPS and to Sopchoppy (from Connecticut), where she made connections to her community and her chapter in the Gardens. Many volunteers who have walked up and joined in have been relative newcomers.
For me, it is only a two-block walk to the sights and the fragrances of Depot Park Gardens. It is by dint of much thought and labor from Sarracenia members that the native plant diversity there is so large. Although I am drawn to the park most often to work, the company of the bees, butterflies, and birds, the seasonal unfoldings everywhere, and the camaraderie among the volunteers make the work rewarding. Add the compliments from visitors about our “labor of love” and I feel great pride in what we have achieved.
Who
Cares About the Pond?
Promoting Backyard Biodiversity Through Residential Landscaping
Article and
photos
by Lauren Moscar
In my backyard, there is a retention pond that I share ownership of with eighteen of my neighbors. Encircled completely by single-family homes in my quiet neighborhood, the small 2-acre pond is completely hidden from passing traffic, shielded from view by our homes, and large laurel oaks (Quercus laurifolia). Deeded out in 1985, my neighborhood’s best-kept secret is now the focus of a community-wide conversation. After 35 years of neglect (33 of which occurred prior to my ownership), the pond is overgrown, invasive plants have crept in, species richness and diversity have decreased, and the community has taken note. As discussions surrounding pond cleanup begin, I have realized that once restoration is complete, we will be left with both a precious opportunity, and a daunting challenge. With a blank slate and endless possibilities, how can my community take this opportunity to promote biodiversity in our own backyards?
The Challenge of Urbanization and the Global Importance of Backyards
It is no secret that urban development continues to present one of the greatest challenges to global biodiversity and species richness. Where urbanization occurs, native species often disappear as they are replaced by generalist (and often non-native) species (Concepción et al., 2016, 236). Land-use and greenspace planning is often touted as one of the most important steps in maintaining biodiversity within communities. Although I don’t disagree, I feel that in order to best preserve biodiversity, the effort cannot stop simply at land-use planning. By understanding the factors that connect humans to nature, like physical and mental well-being, socioeconomics, social experiences, and appreciation for wildlife, we can better influence management decisions made within residential landscapes.
Nilon (2010, 50) commented, “conservation and management of urban biodiversity is about people”. In the U.S. it is estimated
that nearly 90 million homes have gardens, and 35 million people identify as “gardeners” (Kiesling and Manning, 2010, 315). In all, private residences represent nearly 36% of all urbanized areas, offering enormous potential to host critical habitats for species conservation (Kendal et al., 2012, 260).
As I listened to my neighbors passionately list the things they valued most in our backyard oasis, I was reminded that the power of the individual landowner cannot be overlooked. By outlining and providing deeper meaning to the core tenets expressed by the citizens of my community, I hope to challenge stakeholders and governing bodies to look more closely at the decision-making potential of the individual resident. In order to use residential landscapes to their greatest potential for promoting biodiversity, large-scale, top-down efforts must be collaborative and in tandem with individual, bottom-up landscape management decisions. We must understand what people value within their backyards, so that we can turn those values into conservation action.
“It would be nice to see the water again.”
The Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Backyards
Particularly now, in COVID-era life, it is not hard to understand the importance of time spent outdoors when considering physical and mental health. Freeman et al. (2012, 139) and Kiesling and Manning (2010, 319), both describe the concept of “escapism” as an important mental health driver of residential landscape decision-making. Essentially, residents “escape” to backyards to relieve stress by either using it as a space to cultivate (through gardening), or simply by observation and appreciation (Freeman, 2012). There are also a myriad of physical benefits as well. De Vries et al., (2003, 1726) found that 10% more greenspace within a person’s residential environment led to an equivalent of an approximate 5-year decrease
of age-related maladies. A vast amount of research and theories have also linked direct contact with nature to increased overall health for both adults and children. As my community continues advocating for cleaning up the pond, it is critically important to remember the physical and mental health benefits that can come from enjoying personal greenspaces and allow the pond to remain as a source of healing and refuge.
“Will our property value go up?”
How Socioeconomics Drive Landscape Management
Plant diversity and richness have been shown to be positively linked to income (Hope et al., 2003, 8790; Minor et al., 2016, 75). Areas of low income are often found to have less plant diversity at both an individual and neighborhood level, than areas of high income (Minor et al., 2016). Interestingly, this does not just have to do with the cost of the plants. In high-income areas, it is suggested that plant diversity is often increased due to the “luxury effect”, where plant diversity within residential landscapes is used as an external representation of wealth (Hope et al., 2003, 8789). Residential plantings can also directly impact home resale value. Zhang & Boyle (2010, 403) found that the property value of surrounding residential areas decreased an average of 6.4% due to the introduction of the invasive plant Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) in a Vermont residential lake. In the pursuit of increasing backyard biodiversity, it seems one cannot forget the economic bottom line as a driver.
“I wish my yard looked as good as yours!”
Social Pressures and Experiences
Freeman (2012, 141) noted that many homeowners feel that outdoor residential spaces are a safe and easily accessible place to connect with family and neighbors. Even if there is not intentional social connection, neighborhood yards have been shown to influence one another through the mimicry effect (Minor et al., 2016, 75). Similar to the theory of “keeping up with the Jones’”, the mimicry effect drives outdoor spaces to look similar to one another.
Social pressures do not even need to be current to effect landscape planning. Troy et al., (2004, 407) describes a “legacy effect”, where residents are often influenced by developers or former residents’ landscape decision-making. The authors suggest that it is often easier to work with existing plants (particularly trees), than to remove and start over. I experienced this first-hand as I struggled with an ill-placed Senegal date palm (Phoenix reclinata) that threatened my roof and cast unwanted shade over prime native-plant real estate for years until I was compelled to remove it. Forced use of past landscaping decisions can often present a challenge for residents that are interested in maximizing species r ichness, and total biodiversity of a backyard.
The same social pressures that can drive mimicry within residential landscapes can also limit it. Belaire (2016, 410)
showed that fruit-bearing plants, bird feeders, wildflowers, etc. are often limited to only a portion of private residential landscapes – usually the areas less visible to vehicle traffic – in an effort to maintain social norms and expectations of uniformity for neighborhoods. It stands to reason that it should be possible to operationalize the “mimicry effect” to promote the use of native plants in front yards as well. These localized changes could catch on and carry throughout a neighborhood, if done in an easily replicable manner. By declaring the pond as a place to promote biodiversity, my community can relax social pressures that demand our backyards be made of well-manicured sod, and allow a welcoming place for native plants and wildlife.
“What
will happen to the birds?”
Appreciation of Wildlife
The final driver in backyard design and maintenance is the attraction of wildlife. Appreciation and protection of wildlife is often an important factor in people’s desire to interact with the outdoors (Belaire, 2016, 402). This is most commonly seen by the addition of bird feeders. People who offer resources for wildlife have been shown to feel a greater sense of pride and accomplishment in their backyards than those that don’t (Belaire, 2016, 410). As a native plant advocate, the use of wildlifeattracting species is a very easy way of introducing native plants into the yards of local residents. Our pond currently hosts a fair number of birds, mostly generalists like common gallinule (Gallinula galeata), common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) and red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), as well as a nesting pair of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis pratensis)
A great concern of my neighbors is that properly maintaining the pond plants will push out their beloved backyard birds. However, Burghardt et al., (2009, 223) showed that by embracing native planting, landowners were able to increase the insect carrying capacity of their gardens, leading to increased bird abundance and the addition of specialist species. In conversations with my neighbors, it is apparent that backyard birds are a highly valued feature of the pond. With a little education, and the addition of native plants, my community could engage in the positive feedback loop (Goddard et al., 2013, 263) that comes from using native plants to increase urban bird populations.
Can It Be Done Better?
Backyards can hold the key to conserving biodiversity within urban landscapes, but the effort cannot be made in a vacuum. By promoting top-down acceptance of wildlife-friendly neighborhood greenspace management, local governments could promote mimicry and legacy effects (van Heezik et al., 2013, 1452) within communities whilst eliminating negative social pressures. By prioritizing biodiversity within residential developments, governing bodies like HOAs can still maintain aesthetic guidelines that align with the social norms appropriate for the socioeconomics of their residents, while allowing the physical, mental, and biological benefits that urban
greenspaces have to offer (Goddard et al., 2013, 268; Nilon, 2010, 49). By understanding what connects humans to nature, we can better influence management decisions made within residential landscapes and use those connections to drive positive change for biodiversity.
As with many things, COVID-19 has delayed our plans to continue discussions about the future of the pond. With the extra amount of time, I have taken the opportunity to research how best to educate my neighbors and local government on best practices for this newfound opportunity. First, with the assistance of our local government, proper vegetation management needs to occur. Next, my community needs to be educated about
the importance of native plants and encouraged to incorporate them into their own landscape. By promoting native plants be added around the pond, with direction by Florida native plant experts, our community can increase insect and bird populations, leading to a more biodiverse backyard. By managing the pond, using the socio-ecological considerations outlined above, my neighborhood could become a model for biodiversity-friendly neighborhood greenspace management, gaining all the socioeconomic, physical, mental health benefits, and wildlife that our own personal backyard oasis has to offer.
In this case, it seems, everyone cares about the pond. It may just be my job to teach them why.
Could your landscape be the one?
for a single-family residence, 60% native for a multi-family or non-residential site, and 100% native for a restoration area or butterfly/wildflower garden. However, do not be scared to apply. Submitting your garden, your neighbor’s garden, or the
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landscape that you drive by on your way to the supermarket is a wonderful way to share the FNPS message across the state.
To encourage our members and the public not to feel intimidated about submitting their gardens, I share a photo of my unkempt garden (left) as an example of one that can be bested by most native plant enthusiasts. A mixture of favorite natives such as Florida greeneyes (Berlandiera subacaulis), two ironweed species (Vernonia angustifolia and V. gigantea), scorpion-tail (Heliotropium angiospermum), and coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) are to be found in the garden’s wildness. There is nothing to be ashamed of if your landscape is not perfect but encompasses many of the elements that can showcase native plants. I can say with utmost confidence that my garden will not be submitted this year, but maybe your landscape can be the one!
