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The Deep Middle


Gardening & writing in the prairie echo

Using Sociability Rankings For Successful Natural Garden Design

4/15/2023

 
There's a seemingly overwhelming amount of variables to consider when selecting plants and designing a garden: height and width, growth habit, perennial / ephemeral / annual, reproduction method, root structure, fall color, winter structure, soil and drainage, sunlight, moisture levels. See? Toss in succession and the idea of plant communities and it is perhaps a bridge too far for many folks. But garden management -- the time you spend doing it down the road as well as the overall success of your landscape both aesthetically and ecologically -- depends on making the best, most informed decision before you ever dig a hole.

And I think for many, using a plant sociability index might be really helpful. If there's one thing that might be the most helpful, and certainly if the above lists feel daunting, this one might be it. Because let me tell you, the most issues for new, native plant, natural gardening folks is choosing the wrong plant for the wrong place, and in most cases that means a plant that grows too fast, gets too tall, spreads too easily. And while most plants will behave differently in a more manicured home garden than in the wild, we can still create a general baseline of behavior.

A commonly-used sociability rating or index may go something like this:

1 -- the plant is primarily a behaved clumper that stays where it is, only growing in stature over time
2 -- the plant will creep or self sow lightly
3 -- creeping is moderate or self sowing is more liberal but it won't take over
4 -- give it 5 years and the plant will easily dominate the landscape

There are caveats, as you can well imagine. Plants will perform differently in a home garden where there's less competition above AND below the soil line; in a wild prairie or meadow, for example, there could be dozens of species in one square foot. In our garden beds? Maybe just a few, too often simply 1-2. These plants, used to be being shorter or unable to reproduce as easily in the wild, will look at your more spacious and liberating bed and think "oh yeah baby, this is the life, booyah." And other specific cite conditions can influence plant behavior. For example, clay soil -- even dry clay soil -- can be a great equalizer. Why do plants flop? It's often because there's not enough competition (it's not about buttresses).

Let's look at some example species. You may not be familiar with them, they may not be native to your zipcode or ecoregion, but you're likely to know of cousins. Right now, we're speaking from where we know -- eastern Nebraska, urban landscapes, tallgrass / mixed grass / riparian woodland edge.

Level 1
Carex albicans
Baptisia minor
Heuchera richardsonii
Liatris aspera
Thalictrum dioicum

Level 2
Carex pensylvanica
Bouteloua gracilis
Echinacea purpurea
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Zizia aurea
Dalea purpurea
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
Callirhoe involucrata
Asclepias tuberosa
Monarda bradburiana
Penstemon cobaea

Level 3
Conoclinium coelestinum

Symphyotrichum laeve
Rudbeckia hirta
Schizachyrium scoparium
Senna hebecarpa

Level 4
Sorghastrum nutans
Andropogon gerardii
Helianthus maximiliani
Asclepias syriaca
Physostegia virginiana

What plants do you not want in a small urban front yard lawn conversion? Level 4, and level 3 if you don't have good plant density. What DO you want for sure? Level 1 and 2.

Another strategy is to plant like with like. So use all level 1 and 2, or use all level 3 and 4; the latter would be ideal to fight against aggressive or invasive exotic species. Once again, plant behavior is not a hard and fast rule -- we aren't working with parts to a bicycle here, but living organisms whose lives are partially dictated by the environment and climate and weather they find themselves in (just like us!). A level 3 plant may act more like a level 2 plant if the site conditions are outside what it prefers and / or if plant competition, layers, and community are thick and diverse. Take Conoclinium coelestinum, which prefers loam or loamy clay with medium moisture in 50-75% sun; put it in drier clay and it's much less aggressive (maybe even suffering a bit in August right before it blooms if it's a drought year).

So there you go. A primer on plant sociability rankings. These will vary by region and even micro climates and ecotype, but they can help provide a more cohesive, general baseline to work from -- much better than a plant tag. Over time, you're observations will help you create your own site-specific rankings to use for the rest of your life.
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Just Say No to No Mow May

4/9/2023

 
Oh we've stepped in it now. I know. It's ok. Let's dive in and think critically with nuance -- because what no mow may has to teach us is more empowering and liberating than we could have imagined, if we move forward with intention.

The "No Mow May" movement continues to frustrate. Just letting your lawn go will not result in a lovely meadow that neighbors or wildlife will admire. If you're on an urban lot, chances are you won't be getting aster and indigo and prairie clover and coneflowers -- they aren't in the seed bank because your house was not recently built on top of a remnant prairie.

What you WILL get are a host of plants with marginal to little benefit to wildlife, and several that will be terribly aggressive: crabgrass, creeping charlie, barnyard grass. And of course invasive species placed on most city's noxious weed list, like musk thistle or garlic mustard.

There's little chance a neighbor will look at your "let go" lawn and think wow, that's cool, I want that, I understand it. There's every chance they will rightfully report you to weed control -- especially if you're not actively managing the space or designing it in some way, particularly with cues to care or making some sort of significant plant additions. It's better to design the space, to choose the plant communities that will work together AND support wildlife.  Well, read some perspectives by pollinator specialists.


You want to help the environment, pollute less, use less resources, and create resilient habitat that's pleasing to both wildlife and people -- and often that means rethinking lawn and lawn-type spaces entirely. But what happens when you let your lawn go or stop mowing?

  1. It's going to look weedy fast. Without design intention your neighbors will be less apt to get on board.
  2. Invasive species may establish. What's in the weed seed bank? You don't know. Could be some native plants -- likely aggressive seeders -- definitely going to be aggressive exotics.
  3. Woody plants will move in. Without constant management tree seedlings will start to grow. This could be an issue if you live on a small lot or in an area where forests aren't a habitat type. One female red cedar tree put out 1 million seeds.

The point of this post is not to push you to some hyperbole, like "well then what should we do, slather the lawn in chemicals?" It's to get you to think intentionally about your space -- from design to succession, to what you ideally want to happen and to the big leaps your neighbors will have to make when you break from the status quo.

Do you need lawn? Do you need a lawn-type space? Why? How do you use your landscape? How do you want to use it differently? What's the purpose of 4-8" tall plantings -- because at that height there are far, far fewer ecosystem services than with plants 12-30" tall (the height at which we design front yard lawn-to-meadow conversions).

Over the years much has been shared on this website about designing a landscape -- from plant selection (sociability and size) to plant succession over time. When you let your lawn go or stop mowing, there's seldom a plan that takes into consideration management or neighbors, let alone why you need clipped plants in the first place. So if you let your lawn go, think hard about a management plan that takes into consideration your ecoregion and lot size, as well as your environmental and community goals.

If we're not working smartly with a plan and a management / design goal, then we're just being lazy and ideologically polarizing for no reason. That's not helpful or neighborly. Now, I'm all for reducing mowing. And certainly for doing so in larger expanses, like business parks and city parks and golf course edges, because we have a lawn pandemic going on right now.

As for anyone who argues "baby steps," well adults should be taking adult steps -- similarly full of big dreams, big hopes, big risks, and big faith. Prairie up. Rethink pretty.

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    About

    Benjamin Vogt's thoughts on prairie gardening in Nebraska. With a healthy dose of landscape ethics, ecophilosophy, climate change,  and social justice.

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    In a time of climate change and mass extinction how & for whom we garden matters more than ever.

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prairie inspired  design

Lincoln & Omaha, Nebraska

Monarch Gardens is a prairie-inspired design firm. We specialize in lawn to meadow conversions as well as urban shade gardens.

Employing 95% native plants, our designs are climate resilient, adaptable, and provide numerous ecological benefits while artistically reflecting wilder landscapes.
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