Gardeners are creating resilient gardens – ones with healthy soil, enhanced biodiversity and native plants.Gloria Nieto/The Globe and Mail
Climate change is messing with a lot of things, including our gardens.
There are new pest insects, fewer pollinators and more invasive weeds. In some parts of the country, plants, trees and shrubs are blooming earlier than ever before, while in other regions, once-hardy species are struggling from extreme temperatures.
More wind, heat, humidity and drought is a challenge for plants as well as people. But many gardeners are fighting back by creating resilient gardens – ones with healthy soil, enhanced biodiversity and native plants.
“People used to plant primarily for show, putting in lots of quick-flowering annuals that had ornamental merit but were not adept at withstanding pests and diseases,” says Jamie Ellison, a retired horticulturalist who taught landscape and nursery practices at the Nova Scotia Community College for many years.
“Now people are creating environmentally friendly gardens that support the pollinators [birds, bees, moths, butterflies] that are essential to keep our increasingly fragile ecosystem strong.”
Lorraine Johnson, a Toronto-based native plant gardener, agrees.
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Toronto-based native plant gardener Lorraine Johnson.Lorraine Johnson/Supplied
“Gardening for resilience is about making friends with insects,” says Johnson, the author of many gardening books, including 100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens.
“This may surprise new gardeners who thinks these so-called pests are bad. However, the vast majority of flowering plants depend on pollinating insects not only to reproduce, but also to thrive.”
Ellison, who co-authored the book Gardening for Acidic Soils, says healthy soil is the foundation of a quick-to-recover garden. For soil that retains moisture during periods of drought, and drains well when there is excessive rain, you want it to be 50 per cent pore space (water and air), 5 per cent organic matter (compost, manure, fallen leaves and plant stalks) and 45 per cent minerals (sand, silt and clay).
A simple test can help determine the soil composition: “Place a small soil sample in a jar, add some water and shake it up,” Ellison says. “When the soil settles, there will be three bands of sand, silt and clay. If the sand band is thickest, you have sandy soil. If it’s not so thick, then it is probably clay-based.” (You can also take a soil sample to a garden centre and they will do the test.)
To further improve the health of your soil, Johnson recommends letting leaves stay where they fall and allowing dead plant stalks to stand over the winter: “These are over-wintering habitats for a wide variety of pollinators, and they eventually break down into compost, which is far preferable to synthetic fertilizers.” She also likes to add “natural sculptures” – decorative wood (logs and stumps).
“I dislike calling them ‘dead wood’ because they are teeming with insects and microbial life [fungi and bacteria] that break down the stump and return nutrients to the ecosystem.”
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Before: Lorraine Johnson’s backyard in 2010, with a lawn and non-native plants.Lorraine Johnson/Supplied
After: Johnson’s yard in 2020, with a native plant woodland garden.Lorraine Johnson/Supplied
Once you have laid the groundwork, native plants come next: “These plants have evolved in an area, and established the web of connections with pollinators that are at the heart of diversity and create resilience.”
If you’re not sure where to start, native-plant nurseries can provide the expertise to ensure “you get an ethically sourced, locally grown, genetically diverse native plant that will thrive in your region and growing conditions.” (The website networkofnature.org provides a map of all native-plant nurseries in Canada).
Some of Johnson’s favourite native perennials are: pearly everlasting, a low-grower with white flowers and silver foliage that is incredibly tough and supports all kinds of pollinators; native asters (especially the large-leaved aster that blooms late in the season with purplish white flowers); and stiff goldenrod (which is commonly thought to be an allergen, but is not).
As for native shrubs and trees, top picks include the hardy yellow twig and red twig dogwoods (which can withstand very wet conditions); spiraea (western spiraea, birch-leave spiraea and white meadowsweet spiraea); native willows (both trees and shrubs) and a wide assortment of serviceberries.
“I love a native shrub in a garden because it is like planting 20 perennial plants in terms of flower resources for bees and other pollinators,” Johnson says.
For Nova Scotia gardener Niki Jabbour, making her backyard resilient also means creating a beautiful wildlife habitat that doesn’t require a lot of upkeep and fussing.
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“Resilient gardens can teach us a lot about how to stand strong in the face of unforeseen challenges,” she says. “Skills both people and the planet need these days.”
Small-garden tips
Compact home gardens can store carbon, provide sanctuary for pollinators and wildlife, and create a cooling microclimate around your home. Here’s how to transform even the tiniest spaces into productive, eco-friendly havens.
Native wild strawberry: Replacing a small patch of lawn – grass does nothing for biodiversity – with this ground cover that helps protect the soil. Simple to grow and fast-growing, different varieties do well in sun and in shade. “You can walk on it [a little bit], and it produces berries that birds and humans love,” Johnson says.
Potted plants: The large-leaved aster (good for shade), the sun-loving, black-eyed susan and zigzag goldenrod (prefers shade but can tolerate sun) look wonderful in pots and pollinators adore them.
Container gardens: They help safeguard food or flower plants from weather extremes. “The soil can’t be washed away during rainstorms, they drain well, you can control the soil quality easier and there are typically less weeds,” Jabbour says.
Herbs: Chives, borage, lavender, mint, thyme, basil and lemon balm are particularly popular with pollinators. Some herbs (parsley, dill, fennel) also serve as host plants for butterfly larvae.
