Portland Gardener Reassesses 2020 Backyard Over Native Plants' Ecological Value
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 7
Portland Gardener Reassesses 2020 Backyard Over Native Plants' Ecological Value
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 7
Summary
A Portland homeowner who rebuilt a backyard garden after buying a house in 2020 concluded that ecological gardening was more complicated than adding drought-tolerant flowers, food beds and a pond.
Two years after replacing a dying lawn, the garden was thriving with wild bees, dragonflies, butterflies, songbirds and other animals, reinforcing the belief that it was benefiting local wildlife.
That confidence faded as the author encountered wildlife gardeners, nurseries and books that treated native plants as the key measure of ecological value.
Native-plant advocates argue species with long regional evolutionary histories provide better food, shelter and ecosystem support than the foreign plants that dominate most North American nurseries.