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Most landscapes can become unique and attractive native plant gardens or wildlife habitat areas if the correct mix of native plants is ecologically tailored to the existing sun, soil, and moisture conditions. Such native habitat areas not only increase the diversity of native plants, birds, butterflies, insects, and other wildlife that provide many important ecological functions, but they can nourish our souls by emotionally connecting us to the land and nature. They provide ideal educational areas around homes and schools for children to explore and learn about nature. If you are new to the idea of native plant landscaping, need more factual information to convince a stubborn spouse or loved one, or just need additional information before you start planning your home, school, or business project, we recommend you visit the Wild Ones website. They are a national organization that promotes landscaping with native plants and provides education and resources. Their website is provided in the left margin. We provide native plant landscaping advice and services to create mini-habitats, wild-scapes, eco-scapes, and the like: diverse beds of native flowering plants that naturally coexist together, without the use of traditional mulch and other treatments. This allows for a more interactive, self-perpetuating landscape or mini-habitat with lower overall maintenance. In fact, no fertilizer should be used since increased nutrients often promote weed and invasive plant spread, as well as over-sized native plants that can not support their own weight. Once established, watering is not recommended except under extreme drought conditions. We recommend narrow walkways be designed and maintained (usually mowed) within beds, or between beds, to allow for easy viewing and management. For a small fee, we provide thorough site assessments and native landscape designs for often difficult landscape features like wet depressions, swales, slopes and hillsides, pond edges, exposed subsoil areas, stream buffers, and woodlands. [NOTE: We do not provide traditional landscaping services with native plants, which typically incorporates bark mulch around plants, isolating them, and not allowing them to reproduce or interact as a plant community or habitat]. |
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