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How to Slowly Make a ‘Natives Only’ Garden

From VOA Learning English this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Home gardeners are becoming more educated about the importance of native plants in the ecosystem¹.

With a deeper knowledge of native plants, many gardeners are turning to something called "rewilding." This is an approach to gardening and landscaping that uses native plants to feed, house, and protect insects, bees, birds, and butterflies.

Gardening expert Jessica Damiano writes for the Associated Press. She explains the ways gardeners are rewilding their property.

Those ways include:

getting rid of their lawns (areas with just grass),

replacing non-native plants with native ones,

NOT clearing up plants in the fall to keep food and shelter for overwintering birds and insects, and

making their property a habitat for wildlife.

However, other gardeners may worry about having a "messy" garden. They also may be worried about the work and cost of completely redoing their garden. Other people may be limited by their property agreements or neighborhood restrictions².

Well, here is some good news: Rewilding does not have to be all-or-nothing. It is possible to slowly introduce native plants to a traditional, already-established garden.

Just one native potted plant that feeds one pollinator will make a difference. Including a few natives alongside traditional garden plants — whether in containers or in the ground — will create a more sustainable garden that appeals to helpful insects.

Here is more good news: Native plants are generally drought-tolerant. That means they can survive long periods of time without water.

If replacing your entire lawn with native groundcover sounds like too big of a job, consider making the lawn smaller. You can also put in new plant beds and borders or enlarge existing ones. Then you can fill them with plants native to your area.

This will lead to more bees and butterflies. Your flowering plants, fruits, and vegetables will bloom better with the help of more pollinators. You will also have less garden work like cutting, weeding, watering, and fertilizing³. And in the end, you will most likely save money.

Damiano says that planting native wildflowers is the best idea. However, for some people wildflower gardens can look a bit too wild and messy. If that is not what you (or your neighbors) want, you can create a border of grass to contain the wildflowers. This will keep the garden looking neat.

Damiano lives near New York City. Over the last several years she has slowly rewilded her garden. She has less lawn, and the lawn that is left is seeded with clover.

Clover flower attracts pollinators. Clover also fixes nitrogen into the soil. It is a fertilizer you do not have to pay for.

Damiano writes that she kept her hydrangeas, roses, and lilacs. But now, the only new plants she brings home are natives. After just a few years, native plants already outnumber non-native plants in her garden. That will continue as her old garden favorites die and are replaced with plants that belong in the area.

Through this process, Damiano says she has discovered many beautiful flowering native plants like Jacob's ladder (Polemonium caeruleum), turtlehead (Chelone obliqua), and buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). These all provide food for pollinators.

With her roses, she planted gayfeather (Liatris spicata), bee balm (Monarda didyma), and milkweed (Asclepias). Milkweed serves as the only food source for monarch⁴ butterfly caterpillars⁵, she writes.

In the autumn, she still collects her leaves. But she no longer bags them up for the trash collector. Now, the dead leaves are used as winter mulch for the garden, and they serve as a winter home for helpful insects.

Damiano says a complete rewilding of her garden will take several more years to complete. And that is fine with her. It is another step in the right direction. In gardening, as in life, she says her goal is to work toward progress — not perfection.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.

Words in This Story

garden – n. a piece of ground in which fruits, flowers, or vegetables are grown : gardener – n. a person who works in a garden

landscape – v. to improve the natural beauty of a piece of land : landscaping – n.

lawn – n. ground (as around a house or in a garden or park) that is covered with grass and is kept mowed⁶

habitat – n. the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows

messy – adj. lacking neatness or precision

sustainable – adj. of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted⁷ or permanently⁸ damaged

drought-tolerant – adj. able to survive long periods of time without rain

bloom – v. o produce or yield flowers : to support abundant plant life

mulch – n. a material (as straw or bark) spread over the ground especially to protect the roots of plants from heat or cold, to keep soil moist, and to control weeds

1 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 fertilizing   

v.施肥( fertilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Sometimes the preliminary step must be taken of reducing weed population before fertilizing. 有时候，在施肥之前，必须采取减少杂草密度的预备性步骤。 来自辞典例句
• The self fertilizing garden can also be planted in raised beds. 自我施肥的菜园也可以在苗圃床中种植。 来自互联网

4 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

5 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句

6 mowed   

v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The enemy were mowed down with machine-gun fire. 敌人被机枪的火力扫倒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Men mowed the wide lawns and seeded them. 人们割了大片草地的草，然后在上面播种。 来自辞典例句

7 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

8 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。