Re-create a natural, ?Darwinian? landscape

By G. Owen Yost

A natural landscape is a durable and "evolved" landscape, created entirely by Mother Nature, without any help or interference from man. In it, shafts of sunlight pierce the leaf canopy, thrusting into the ground below. Unseen birds chirp, daring you to see them amid the vines and branches. Casually massed plants reach up through a blanket of decaying leaves and twigs.

A natural landscape is a durable and "evolved" landscape, created entirely by Mother Nature, without any help or interference from man. In it, shafts of sunlight pierce the leaf canopy, thrusting into the ground below. Unseen birds chirp, daring you to see them amid the vines and branches. Casually massed plants reach up through a blanket of decaying leaves and twigs.

Doing so goes far beyond planting a few native plants (though that?s a good start). A landscape that takes its inspiration from Mother Nature is possible, but you?ll always have problems, like dealing with the guy next door who spends all weekend pulling "weeds" and spraying diazinon. There?s also your house itself, which is certainly not natural.

Through the years, I?ve walked in and looked at forests, prairies and groves all over the country. At times I?m sure folks thought I belonged in a rubber room, since I stared at "nothing" for hours. But a natural landscape is definitely not nothing. It?s a very natural balance of elements.

Five very flexible guidelines form the nucleus of a natural landscape. There also is a sixth, which goes something like, "Ignore the other five if what you?re planning feels right in your heart."

1. Use a wide mixture of plants, many sizes and species. Mix them together. This could be called a "grove." In nature, you might see a canopy tree, a few understory trees or shrubs, a vine or two, some native grasses or other ground cover and some wildflowers ? all in the same place! Using this as a model, select compatible plants, all appreciating the same little microclimate. In our Cross Timbers region, that might mean bur oak, redbud, coral honeysuckle, switchgrass and black-eyed Susan all sharing the same spot in your landscape.
2. Provide contrast. Example: nothing makes a tall person feel exceptionally tall like being in a crowd of short people. In nature, this is seen in many forms ? contrasting heights, contrasting lights and shadows, contrasting shades of color. In a home landscape, this can be a dark green plant as background for a grayish-green plant, or the mass of a boulder behind an area of fragile-looking plants.
3. Use hardscape native to your area. "Hardscape" is a strange word! It?s shorthand for any non-plant item in the landscape, such as a statue, birdbath, lighting, a patio, cute little gnomes, etc. I use quite a few boulders and randomly shaped flagstone and I?ll insist on them being native to north Texas. This usually means using reddish-tinged stones like those found naturally around here. This is exactly what Mother Nature would have used as "hardscape" if there were a few centuries to wait.
4. Plant in large masses. In a natural setting, what really grabs your attention is a large cluster of things: a field of daisies, a forest of oaks, a prairie of native grasses. One or two nice plants just won?t make much of an impression. (Think of acres of tan or light green prairie grass and how this mass provides contrast for the seemingly huge dark green trees. It all works together!)
5. Avoid things that look orderly. Nature isn?t neat and precise, so a natural landscape shouldn?t be. You won?t find straight lines or right angles in nature. Nor will you find formal balance (where the left side of your yard is a "mirror-image" of the right). These are man-made concepts. I also avoid "beds" that are just straight rows of identical plants, rimmed by some sort of artificial edging material. Instead, I prefer to let plants intermingle and softly blend into each other, like in nature.

The result is what I call "Darwinian" landscaping ? survival of the fittest. The finished landscape has to accommodate human presence (driveways, phone poles, sidewalks etc.) and not be "wild" or "overgrown." Nature could have accomplished much the same thing in a few hundred years or more ? your design just speeds up the natural process.

Owen Yost is an area landscape architect specializing in designing low-maintenance landscapes while incorporating native plants with hardscape. He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Keep Denton Beautiful and the Native Plant Society of Texas. His Denton office is at 4516 Coyote Point; call 940-382-2099 or 940-383-9655 or e-mail him at Yost87@charter.net