Plateau Magazine June-July 2023

garden
Natural Harmony
Understanding plant communities for successful landscape design
Story and photos by KRISTIN LANDFIELD
AS A FERVENT PLANT LOVER,
I’ve been known to brake
abruptly when driving to observe
a striking plant in someone’s
landscape or on the side of the
road. It helps to view plants in a variety
of settings, to recognize that sincerely
learning a plant means understanding how
it behaves among other species in diverse
milieux. It’s now summer in the mountains,
and the roadsides are resplendent with
wildflowers. Along with the signature cool
evenings and dewy mornings, flowering
plants are on full display. In sunny ditches
along roadside streams, profuse strands
of Penstemon, Eryngium and Lobelia
(Above:) A carpet of Christmas fern, moss,
Sedum ternatum, and mist flower form this
ground layer at the Southern Highlands Reserve.
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species flower with summertime splendor.
Sourwood trees (Oxydendron arboretum)
and Summersweet (Clethra alinifolia) are
now heavy with panicles of white blooms
that call to butterflies, bees and feisty
hummingbirds.
For flower lovers, the arrival of the
summer months marks a peak point in
the year—the height of brilliance among
showier species (most plants reproduce
with flowers, but not all are obvious). Gardening
with flowering plants is especially
appealing here on the plateau, where,
with our ample rainfall and clean air,
herbaceous plants reward us with their
fresh foliage and vibrant blooms. At a
garden center, it's tempting to grab one or
two of everything in flower. To be clear: I
am not condemning such impulse per se;
rather, I’m suggesting that we meet this
impulse with a framework for how to best
incorporate that urge into a successful and
authentic landscape design.
The southern Appalachian Mountains
host one of the richest ecosystems in the
temperate world. Biodiversity, in both
variety of species and abundance of each,
is robust and offers a dynamic palette of
native plants to celebrate in our planned
landscapes. As discussed in our April/May
2023 issue, there is an ever-growing need
to incorporate more natives into our home
and community landscapes. Our wild
spaces are shrinking—an incontrovertible
reality in 2023. While ardent efforts to
protect such spaces are of critical importance,
supporting wild spaces at home is
arguably our most effective means to safeguard
these mountains and the creatures
who inhabit them—including us. Fortu-