Garden Sustainability for Your Area

Your garden may be a small sensible plot or a grand display of majestic trees, sweeping lawns, and floral displays. Despite garden designs and scale, they all have one thing in common. Your garden, just like your neighbor's yard and the city arboretum, is home to the native creatures of your region. It is teeming with life both visible and unseen.

We use these spaces to give our homes curb appeal, to grow our victory gardens, or to provide places of beauty and fragrance for relaxation and outdoor entertainment. Birds, insects, reptiles, and small mammals use them for food, shelter, and reproduction. Whether we notice or not, our gardens are sustaining a host of living things. The soil is also alive with beneficial microbes and fungi that help our plants take up nutrients to grow vigorously and decomposers that break down organic waste.

When you visit the nursery to make plant selections, it is most important to select those varieties that are well- suited for your soil type, light exposure, and climate zone. In addition, think of the wildlife that depends on your choices. If you like hummingbirds, for example, what plants attract them? Choose some berry-producing shrubs for your songbirds and the right host plants for your favorite butterflies. Put in a birdbath, research and support your native flora and fauna.

Be willing to sacrifice a bit of your personal Eden. Take off your glasses and step back. Do you really need to be concerned about those chewed leaves and some earwigs in your roses? If you provide a haven, they will come. Instead of reaching for a pesticide, trust in nature. She is very resilient without our interference. Relax and enjoy knowing that your beautiful garden is sustaining a lot more than just you!