Co-creating with Nature

Principle #4: Pay attention to ecological interactions in a spirit of reciprocity and nurture changes in your refugia gardens that facilitate adaptation over time.

Goal: Nurture adaptation to new climate and ecological conditions.

Ecological gardening: More and more gardeners today are shifting towards ecological gardening: growing plant species in clusters that interact together and with wild species (especially wild plants, pollinators, and birds). Ecological gardeners typically focus on native plants that have a history of interacting with local wildlife and environmental conditions in ways that enabled them to thrive. Once established, these plants generally require less weeding and little to no watering – both important properties for refugia gardens. Additional properties that are important for refugia gardening include:

Promoting phenological diversity – Planting species that flower at different times throughout the growing season so that arriving pollinators find something blooming. Because of climate change, this phenological diversity is even more important. Flowering plants are typically sensitive to environmental and weather cues, especially temperature and moisture conditions. If you’ve been paying attention long enough, you have probably witnessed a spring warm wave that resulted in an early bloom of spring ephemerals. If this occurs that a time when migratory pollinators have not yet arrived (because they take their own cues from the environment, including some conditions like daylength that are not affected by climate change), then the timing of these two phenological events will be out of sync with each other. This is harmful to both sets of species: pollinators that rely on nectar from the flowers may starve while the flowers may experience lower pollination and seed set. In fact, this phenomenon happens throughout the growing season and affects flowering, fruit/seed development, and other traits that impact plant reproduction and ecological food webs. Because plant interactions with bees, butterflies, and birds is crucial, ecological and refugia gardeners who diversify their flowering plants are actually assisting in the thriving and resilience of ecological systems.

Important note: As we explain elsewhere on this website, it is the ecological functions provided by these species that are even more important than their status as native or non-native. In general, because they have persisted in an area where these interactions have had a long time to develop, native species do interact with many native insects, birds, and animals. But in the face of climate change, native species can face shifts in environmental conditions in ways that negatively impact their long-standing interactions. Fortunately, some non-native species and cultivars/varieties can also provide similar ecological functions and may be able to adapt to the changing environmental conditions.

Diversifying natural food webs – Gardeners tend to despair when they discover chewed leaves on their plants, but this actually can be a sign of ecological health. Plants are the base of every natural food web. Furthermore, plants have co-evolved with herbivores. In response to herbivory, plants typically evolve chemical defenses – compounds that make them taste bad, make the herbivore sick, or in other ways discourage excessive loss of leaf tissue. Herbivores then are under pressure to develop their own counter-strategies to detoxify these compounds. This often results in herbivores becoming specialists: able to eat certain plant species but not others. This co-evolutionary arms race goes back and forth to the benefit of both the plant and the animal. As far as the animal herbivore is concerned, extinction of the plant is the worst possible outcome for that would mean the imminent extinction of the animal too – unless it can find an alternative host plant that it can tolerate. This is another reason why it is beneficial for gardeners to diversify their plants and tolerate some leaf damage, thereby tipping the balance away from herbivore over-specialization.
Providing seasonal aesthetic appeal – Because human interactions in the garden are also important, there are benefits to planting a garden that stimulates human interest throughout the growing season. Historically, gardening and plant breeding have focused on flower diversity because we are attracted to different colors (and sometimes scents). But, garden designers like Piet Oudolf have more recently taught us also to pay attention to plant shapes and textures while planting in clusters that mimic the visual appeal of natural plant communities. A focus on structure also has the added benefit of visual appeal that extends from before flowering to long after flowering has ended. In fact, Oudolf urges gardeners to “discover beauty in death” by allowing dead flowers, leaves, and stems to remain over the winter. For refugia gardeners, this has the added benefit of providing seeds for birds and structures where wild species are protected over the winter. For further insights, we recommend this article and this film about Piet Oudolf’s inspiring garden designs.

Reciprocity: “Though the Earth provides us with all that we need, we have created a consumption-driven economy that asks, ‘What more can we take from the Earth?’ and almost never ‘What does the Earth ask of us in return?’,” notes Robin Wall Kimmerer. Blending insights from her Potawatomi heritage and her profession as an environmental biologist, she continues:

“The premise of Earth asking something of me—of me!—makes my heart swell. I celebrate the implicit recognition of the Earth’s animacy, that the living planet has the capacity to ask something of us and that we have the capacity to respond. We are not passive recipients of her gifts, but active participants in her well-being. We are honored by the request. It lets us know that we belong.

For much of human’s time on the planet, before the great delusion, we lived in cultures that understood the covenant of reciprocity, that for the Earth to stay in balance, for the gifts to continue to flow, we must give back in equal measure for what we take.” (Returning the Gift)

Refugia gardeners can practice reciprocity in a very powerful way by paying attention to what the plants, insects, and birds in our gardens have to teach us. Which species are thriving? Which ones are experiencing stress or maybe even dying back? Are there ecological relationships that are changing? What does your garden need of you? These may be challenging questions for you to ask, especially if you don’t know what to look for. But as you pay careful attention to the signs of thriving and stress in your garden, you will learn. If you find that your relationship with the land is changing, compelling you to give/respect more and take less, then you are making progress. Reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s works may help you gain insights too.

Nurturing changes that facilitate adaptation: Climate change is causing changes in the living world. For the rest of our lives, these changes will become more obvious, extensive, and pervasive. Restoring ecosystems to some past state is not an option. For living systems to thrive, they must adapt to the changes. In a spirit of reciprocity, you can nurture such adaptations. While we cannot know exact combinations to allow thriving, we can nurture conditions where these outcomes are more likely:

Increase the biodiversity of your garden.
Look for evidence of reciprocity among the creatures, including the wild ones, in your garden.
Nurture the changes that produce resilience (and thriving) for the system as a whole.

If your refugia garden continues to be a place of refuge for biodiversity even as it changes, then you are making progress. Adaptation will also involve swapping plants and stories with other refugia gardeners from time to time. That too is a form of reciprocity and a source of gratitude and hopefulness.

More Refugia Gardening Principles and Practices
1-Diversifying for the future
*Why not natives only?
2-Focusing on ecological functions
3-Enhancing natural landscapes
4-Co-creating with nature
5-Cultivating relational caring