This week I had my first experience of tree planting while volunteering at a nearby county park. Our volunteer crew was aiming to restore the natural habitat near a creek, so the species we planted had been carefully selected to support the ecosystem of the surrounding area.
Perhaps you have a garden or other piece of land that you want to enhance by planting new trees, shrubs, grasses, or flowers. How will you design your outdoor space and what will you choose to plant?
Selecting a variety of native species for a new planting project can make a difference not only for you but also for your wider environment. Some benefits of selecting native plants include a reduction of watering requirements, less maintenance effort (for example, little or no requirement for fertilizer or pesticides), providing a healthy haven for native birds, butterflies, and other insects, and limiting the invasion of non-native plant species that can actively damage the natural environment.
Where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and across much of California, Eucalyptus trees abound.
These non-native trees were brought from Australia in the nineteenth century to support rapid building efforts in California, and for their ornamental value. Eucalyptus trees can grow fast, sometimes 4-6 feet (1.2-1.8 meters) a year, and they thrived in California’s warm, dry climate. Today, Eucalyptus is considered an invasive species in California. These magnificent, fragrant trees owe some of their success to their natural emission of toxic compounds that can make California’s soil inhospitable to its native species. In addition, the size and speed of growth of Eucalyptus trees mean that they have been able to crowd out many native plants, depriving surrounding areas of the sunlight, water and nutrients required for the healthy growth of native species.
Our creek habitat restoration planners chose to use California Buckeye and other California natives for our planting project.
The Buckeye saplings – safely protected by small wire barriers against roaming wild pigs, introduced from Europe a couple of centuries ago! – should grow into large, attractive trees with long flower spikes that will attract native hummingbirds and insects. These Buckeye trees will allow other plant species to flourish alongside them.
In Rajasthan, where Praanada plans to create a natural forest, the landscape is struggling against many invasive species. One example is Prosopis juliflora, a type of mesquite that was introduced to India from South America in the nineteenth century.
Elegant and well-adapted to arid conditions, this mesquite tree draws out groundwater, exacerbating drought and damaging the natural biodiversity of Rajasthan’s deserts. The sharp thorns of the tree can also hurt the paws of tigers, which are already struggling to overcome many threats to their survival. Restoration of natural landscapes in Rajasthan provides tigers with their ideal forest habitat for hunting, resting and raising their young. Grow-Trees is one organization working to benefit Rajasthan’s landscape, native creatures, and communities, with a reforestation project around Sariska Tiger Reserve.
Next time you’re planning a planting project, could you take a few minutes for a little research into your area’s native species? Commercial nurseries can sometimes be heavily focussed on non-native ornamental plants but is there abundant beauty that you might be overlooking among native plants, that can help your local ecosystem to flourish? Many online resources exist to support customers in identifying and purchasing locally native plants that will look stunning in their gardens or other outdoor spaces.
What will you choose for your project? We’d love to hear from you.
