Re: Planting something native

At 09:36 PM 11/23/98 +1300, Glenn Breayley wrote:
>Susan -
>   I think you're touching on a real problem here. - namely, the vast
>majority of plants adapted to a Mediterranean climate don't actually look
>the greatest for most of the year. The period of summer dormancy leaves a
>lot of it looking dry & not attractive. This is especially true of a lot of
>South African natives.

This seems to be a universal problem, though not impossible to overcome.
>From a garden designer's point of view, it all comes down to the total
picture and, of course, the plant selection.

It is a real problem that marketing has created this concept of the
'pretty' garden, with discreet beds stuffed with heavily flowering
plants.  I recently saw a garden featured in a very handsome, artistic
magazine from our northern SF Bay region wine country.  These pages
often feature wonderful photos of the rugged Mediterreanean landscape
that we find so picturesque.  But this featured garden stood out like
some sort of horticultural theme park.  A handsome setting and nice
architecture (a huge, villa like mansion!), but the plantings were merely
enormous beds of annuals planted to be at peak bloom in time for the
photographer (probably looking very poorly right now!).  All this
represented lots of money thrown away on this transient color, and this
was being held up as a fine garden!  Many growers, breeders and
nurseries are unfortunately working toward this 'bedded out' dream,
promoting only those plants which make compact little lumps of pure
color, having lost all the form and character of their species.

Too often, this kaleidescope effect is compared to the parched, dry,
and half-dead spectacle of a 'native' planting, including poorly
placed indigenous plants suffering both physically and aesthetically
in their placement.  Garden beds are to be filled with whatever is
available, the current interest or fad, or the most recent
introduction or hybrid, regardless of the overall effect.  Too often
true dramatic impact is forgone for short-sighted interests.  A few
well-chosen and appropriately placed specimens, contrasting well in
texture, color, and form with the surrounding architecture or
landscape can transform one of these gardens to great heights.

One real problem I see is lack of examples for homeowners and landscape
designers to draw upon.  This is true for both native plants and
climate appropriate exotics.  As valuable as Cistus species are to our
future landscapes, there exists no public collection of these plants
from which to gain insight and understanding of their unique form,
flowering, and textures.  Instead, people are always experimenting, 
often unsuccessfully, and these important plants are not considered
important.  In California natives, there was a short-lived breeding
program for Diplacus (shrubby Mimulus natives) which produced a wide
variety of interesting, heavily flowered small shrubs, in ranges of
new and beautiful colors.  Now, you see few available, and usually
only a couple of colors.  These are very easy to propogate and rapid
in growth, but there are so many that it is likely confusing to sort
them out.  And there is no public planting to view their relative
triats (at least in this area).

A local native plant garden here in Tilden park, behind Berkeley, is
a great showcase of native species, many shown off to great effect.
The variety of form, color, and texture is enormous.  But only a few
of these plants are seen in use in local landscapes.  And there are
many more that could be featured.  Breeding programs to create new
forms more tolerant of home garden conditions or common landscape
situations could yield great results.  Unfortunately, some of the
most creative and energetic people in our area are far more interested
in trying out the new and rare plants from other parts of the world.
As has often been the case in the past, new selection of our own
native material might need to come from other parts of the world
where our flora is prized for being 'exotic'!  (perhaps another reason
for this global forum!).

As with any landscape, the choice of plants can make for an interesting
display regardeless of flowers.  The unnatural, color-packed plantings
some people have come to expect are unrealistic and problematic for
our environment (do you know how much pollution is created by the
bedding planting industry!!).  We need to train our eyes to see what
is good in our indigenous floras and landscapes, but we also need to
train our minds to design more beautiful landscape using the plants
around us.


Sean A. O'Hara                       sean.ohara@poboxes.com
h o r t u l u s   a p t u s          710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose'     Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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