I recently attended a public conversation on the subject of ‘Avant Gardening’ at the Longmont Museum. Host Emily Maeda, co-owner of Tree of Life Landscaping, conversed with accomplished front range horticulturists and landscape designers Bryan Fischer and Kevin Phillip Williams about what constitutes the current avant-garde in gardening. I didn’t really feel that their discussion was conclusive, but the question has been in my thoughts. I now realize that in my mind, the definitive answer is habitat gardening.
I see habitat gardening as the best possible use of outdoor spaces at this point in time, with organic, regenerative food gardening as the other most important use. I see it as including restoration, stewardship and enhancement of natural habitats, as well as the creation of approximations of local natural habitats in artificially delineated spaces.
In general, our landscape gardens have served our aesthetic and lifestyle preferences for centuries. They have primarily communicated our control over nature, our ideas of beauty and our identification with wealth and power. Coupled with our appropriation of wildlands and open spaces for housing, industry, commerce, infrastructure, mono-cropping and industrial agriculture, these attitudes have helped bring our ecosystems to a tipping point and now our ecosystems are seriously threatened and urgently need our help. You are part of a larger community and what you do in your garden affects the rest of us – human and otherwise. Who else’s needs will you be taking into account and honoring when you decide how to work with your soil, how you eliminate weeds, how you relate with insects, and what you plant?
Habitat gardening puts healthy ecosystem functioning at the top of our gardening priorities. It gives us invitations and opportunities to observe natural systems and communities closely and to explore how they work and how they interconnect. We don’t have to re-make our gardens all at once, but we do have to stop using toxic chemicals and harmful practices. Every step we take in the direction of native habitat creation and support can be a valuable part of the whole. You can start small or start big. You can be the only one on your block or you can join with neighbors to create some habitat continuity.
My own garden, which already included a casual lawn, large Douglas Fir tree, two mature but neglected apple trees and a huge Siberian elm, began 30 years ago with an emphasis on fragrance, and soon morphed into a plant trial garden for our nursery. Over time I have learned so much more about plants, soil organisms, invertebrates, birds, bats, rodent, reptiles, microclimates, water, wind, and how they all interact. Changes have been made gradually, trees and shrubs removed and planted, small areas reworked with native plant communities and resource conservation measures.
Creating and maintaining new and existing natural communities gives us insights into the meaning of community. In our society, for many decades (and longer) there has been a very deliberate and extremely well-funded attack on community in all of its manifestations, because when we are united in community, we have the power to make positive change. Our moment is NOW.