Native plants
Grow native plants as co-evolved with wildlife
by Jake Rayson
natureworks.org.uk/slides/native
Press P to see notes & credits
No.4: CAD | Wildlife Forest Garden Design Classes | natureworks.org.uk/classes
Outline
- Why native plants?
- Where native plants?
- Revel in the vernacular
- All plants are useful
- Cultivars, nativars, near-natives
1. Why native plants?
- Forest garden is edible ecosystem
- Natural pest control & fertility
- Native plants have co-evolved with wildlife
- Inverterbrates are backbone of ecosystems
Japanese Maple vs Hawthorn
- Acer japonicum—Japan & S Korea
- Crataegus monogyna—Europe, NW Africa, W Asia
- Database of Insects & their Food Plants (DBIF)
2. Where native plants?
Biomass bulk in forest garden
- Windbreaks 👈
- Ground cover
- System plants
2. Where native plants?
Biomass bulk in forest garden
- Windbreaks
- Ground cover 👈
- System plants
2. Where native plants?
Biomass bulk in forest garden
- Windbreaks
- Ground cover
- System plants 👈
3. Revel in the vernacular
- Work with nature
- Where are you?
- Conditions?
- What grows?
4. All plants are useful
- Most UK natives on PFAF
- Edible, herbal, weaving, building, nutrients etc
- Wildlife food & habitat
- Know your compatriots
- Nettle (Urtica dioica), photo by Maksym Kozlenko on Wikimedia Commons
- Edible leaves, medicinal, barrier plant, fibre, leaf protein, food source for Map butterfly (Araschnia levana)
- Photo by Jörg Hempel on Wikimedia Commons
5. Cultivars
- Cultivars better cropping
- Nativar is native cultivar
- Cultivar generally inferior
- Neighbouring near-natives
