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Reading Nature Whether we like it or not, something is going to grow around the places where we live and work, and thinking about our relationship to our landscaping can make a difference. Diekelmann and Schuster’s Natural Landscaping explains how our decisions in landscaping matter not only in our immediate environment but in the larger world. The choice of the lawn as the dominant form of residential landscaping has had significant impact on energy use and on what species of plants and animals thrive in residential areas. In response, they suggest using native plants to landscape, and the first step is to think not about what individual plants to grow, but about what plant communities. They begin the book by describing the characteristics of the northeastern United States. We are on the southern edge of the Northern Conifer Hardwoods Region in the Appalachian Plateaus. Where we are has everything to do with what we should plan to grow: altitude, temperature, average rainfall, and soil conditions. It matters that we are above the line where Wisconsin glaciation ends. Diekelmann and Schuster are not advocates of the “no-mow” approach. You will not get a “naturalized” landscape simply by neglecting your yard. While native species in their proper environment with appropriate companions will thrive, aggressive weeds will outcompete them, especially in disturbed ground. We cannot count on good things happening “naturally”; we must find and plant what is appropriate for our place and our needs. The book models the planning process and introduces basic principles of landscape design using an example house and yard. But the book is also specific about how to deal with the different microclimates within even a single back yard: open, semi-shaded and shaded areas, and wetlands and transitional edges. In each case pictures and descriptions of naturally occurring communities illustrate how their characteristics can be adapted to landscaping. Natural landscaping also involves seeing that landscape not as a static arrangement to be maintained, like a house, but as a dynamic process that will change and develop, not just as the seasons change, which happens no matter how unnatural our landscape is, but also as the interrelationships among the plants develop from season to season. There is work involved in planning and planting and defending the plants from weeds and other plants during the early stages, but once established, a natural landscape, operating under its own logic, can surprise and delight. The ideas in this book are quite compelling, but in some ways they are quite demanding: we must understand and adapt to the place where we live rather than simply impose our will on it. Of course, there are also compensations. The authors point out that “using communities in this way requires more than reading. It also requires repeated visits to local natural areas and the use of all the senses.” So by adopting this approach to landscaping, I can also consider hiking in the woods a form of yard work. That suits my tastes. Tom Murphy teaches nature writing at Mansfield University. You can contact him at readingnature@mountainhomemag.com. |
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