Time to see your Garden from a new Perspective

Creating a garden design is all about perspective. The owner's, designers, neighborhood's, friend's, spouse's, and maybe even your conscience's perspective. But how many people really take into account Nature's perspective?

Looking up into the canopy from the bathroom skylight

There are many planes to view when deciding what a garden should look like and how it should function. It's part of human nature that we're very used to looking at what is in front of us, what we are used to, and what current trends and products tell us we need. But what if we stepped back, and looked at garden design from a new perspective, that of designing our gardens with nature's needs and gifts in mind. What would we do different? What would we gain in return?

Deer are welcome in parts of the ecosystem garden

These lady bugs are found in their native habitat on the top of Mount Herman

This hawk nests every year in the same tree at the bottom of our property

Gardening for nature takes into account what nature already gives us to help us create a habitat that's easy to take care, and gives back to the earth. One of the easiest ways to start is by observing your environment. This doesn't mean taking a quick stroll through the back yard, and then jumping into designing a garden. It means really observing what goes on in nature, even if you live in the middle of the city. Once you see how things in nature interact with each other, you can design your gardens or landscapes to do the same thing.

Fruits are eaten by the birds each fall and winter

Crabapple trees are pollinated each spring

Let's take the example of designing a new garden that lays in part shade. We could just get a book, look at some planting plans, and modify them to fit our space. It would probably turn out very pretty, but not do much to help nature, or even make the best use of the environment at hand. If we instead looked up at the canopy and watched what happened there we would probably be able to create a habitat. We would choose plants that feed the birds, attract the right kind of insects, make use of the mulch that fell from the trees, and co-exist with the amount of moisture found in that area. Our plants would grow better and the insects and wildlife would be happy since we wouldn't need lots of fertilizers, pesticides, or extra water to coax along the garden.

All three of these ecosystems are significantly different, so design accordingly

Designing a nature-centric garden creates something very individualized, since it interacts and reflects what is going on in your ecosystem.  If done correctly, it doesn't follow fads, but aims for sustainability.  It rewards you with sights and sounds of birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.  Doesn't that sound nice to you?