Re-Nativizing Your House Lot
The typical Island property owner lives on a relatively small piece of land used as a house lot. If we want to improve the Island’s ecology, the most important sites of improvement are likely these lots, not necessarily those big-acreage properties in the hands of private or public landowners.
The challenge: Most house lots typically feature a lawn and beds of non-native, ornamental shrubs. Gardening with ornamentals is really satisfying, and a nice lawn can be beautiful. But does this kind of landscaping contribute much to the Island’s ecosystem services—the benefits we and other species get from an ecosystem that’s functioning properly? Maybe not so much.
(Quick list of some of these benefits: Re-charge of the Island’s aquifer—our sole source of drinking water. Habitat for the animals we love. Food for pollinators assisting in the production of fruit that we, and other species, eat. Cooler temps and moister air during our now-hotter-and-drier summers.)
The good news is that you can have beautiful, satisfying landscaping, while also contributing to the Island’s ecological health, if you introduce native plants to your yard. Below are two simple strategies for doing so. Note that the work required to make this eco-contribution isn’t any greater than traditional yardwork. In fact, your yardwork may lessen in the long run if you plant drought-tolerant, frost-hardy natives.
Here are the two simple strategies:
#1. Plant some native plants among your ornamentals. There’s no need when re-nativizing your yard to pull out your favorite non-native plants, like those hellebores that bloom in late winter, bringing hope when the Big Dark nearly has you beat. Your rhodies are safe too. Just find bare spots in your ornamental-plant beds and pop in some natives. You can get a whole lot of ecosystem benefits out of beds that are only, say, one-third native plants.
#2. Remove some of the lawn along existing plant beds, to make room for natives. Homeowners sag, with good reason, when experts recommend ripping out their whole lawn and replacing it with native shrubs, all in one go. Save the drama. Just pull up a two-foot swath of lawn from around some existing plant beds, then plant natives in the swath. Repeat this baby step each year for a few years, and you’ll have nativized a sizeable area.
But what are some recommended native plants and where can you buy them? Easiest source for native plants and info about them: the Land Trust’s annual native-plant sale, which opens for (online) orders January 6. You can preview the available plants now.
Finally, notice that, using the above strategies for re-nativizing, you haven’t sacrificed beautiful ornamental plants or enough lawn for the (grand)kids to play on.
