Dynamic landscapes become more resilient with each passing year.

Plant communities have evolved over time to recover from and thrive in the wake of all kinds of disturbances including drought, fire, grazing, floods and landslides. By studying the resilience of natural ecologies, we can create gardens with dynamic and enduring beauty.

Resilient planting design is dynamic

There is a certain grace one finds in a well-structured garden where plants are allowed to move and grow and develop their own rhythms over time. Meadows, woodland borders and the water’s edge area all areas of the garden that lend themselves to a more dynamic planting approach. In these spaces we plant species that are well suited to the growing conditions, and then allow them fill in and distribute themselves according to their preferences and needs. All gardens require maintenance, but in these environments, we don’t try and control everything. Rather, we accept that there will be some changes in the composition and spatial distribution of these communities over time. Being well situated with regards to soil, light and moisture is key to both the health and beauty of the plants. It also enables them to bounce back quickly after an unseasonable heat wave or an encounter with an herbivore. As we watch our designs evolve, we know that the plants are hard at work determining where they will perform best and that our gardens will be more resilient because of this.

More exuberant plantings often pair beautiful with clean modern lines and finishes

Dynamic planting designs look amazing in naturalistic settings but they can also be quite striking when juxtaposed with clean, modern lines and finishes. The visual rhythms that develop organically over the years provide gardens with a timeless and unselfconscious beauty.

Resilient planting design is adaptive

Native plants have evolved in relationship with each other and many other life forms over millennia. We frequently plant natives in critical areas, restoration contexts, and on sites that are adjacent to other native landscapes. Here, they support local wildlife, express the unique beauty of the region and create continuity by connecting sites with borrowed views.

In more pristine areas, native plants help connect a site to its surroundings.

Unfortunately, our native plants have not evolved to regularly withstand the kind of temperatures we experienced last summer, especially in highly altered urban environments that absorb and hold heat. When we think about designing resilient gardens, we need to consider both the current and future conditions of sites.

An urban site that was once a forest with dappled light and rich soil might now be more exposed and have a much thinner soil profile. Instead of planting the western red cedars, vine maples and red huckleberries that once grew there we may need to draw from a different ecological or successional community, perhaps opting for more meadow species and drought tolerant trees and shrubs.

Tough meadow species add beauty and color despite the harsh conditions urban sites.

Throughout history, compositions of plant communities have changed in response to the warming and cooling of the planet. Observing the way in which plants migrate towards the poles in response to warming temperatures can give us clues as to plants that might do well in our gardens in the years to come. Many of us in the office have begun integrating more plants from Southern Oregon and Northern California into our designs. These plants are adapted to the wet winters and dry summers of the west coast yet are more heat tolerant than many of our more hyper local varieties. Plants from other Mediterranean or steppe environments from around the world can add climate adapted beauty to our gardens.

Drought tolerant species such as Garrya eliptica, cornus sericea “Kelseyi” and Festuca idahoensis have a range that extends down the west coast making them good choices for a climate adapted garden.

Resilient Planting Design is Robust

Every garden is a community of plants, animals and micro-organisms. The more robust and high functioning the community, the more resilient the garden.

An appropriate level of complexity maximizes species diversity while minimizing competition. In a well-designed perennial border, early spring bulbs and ephemerals emerge to soak up the first rays of spring. By summer they will be shaded out and protected by sun loving perennials with tougher foliage. When we combine ecologically compatible plants with different roles, growth patterns and flowering periods we can enjoy an extended season of bloom and provide year-round forage for a birds, pollinators and other beneficial insects.

Emerging early in spring, Hellebores offer an import source of nectar for pollinators at a time when other food is scarce.

Not only do more robust gardens offer year-round visual interest, they often maintain their health and vigor with fewer chemicals. We love the drama of block plantings; however, even when designing for visual simplicity, we take care to include a meaningful amount of plant diversity. Landscapes with limited species are often vulnerable to disease and pest pressure. A garden with a wide variety of plants contains fewer hosts for any given pest making it more difficult for it to get established. Similarly, if there is a disease outbreak it is easily dealt with as an isolated case.

High impact block plantings are improved by a diversity of species.

In addition to being more resilience to pests and disease, gardens with a large variety of plant species can play a small but important role in larger efforts to address the global decline in biodiversity. Like botanical gardens, private gardens and estates can serve as genetic repositories for plants that are at risk in their native environments. While reversing habitat loss and fragmentation is of the utmost importance in preserving species rich communities, gardens can quietly help keep individual species from disappearing entirely.

For those who wish to take this responsibility to the next level, planting seeds or plants grown from seed can help protect not only interspecies diversity but also the genetic diversity within species. Due to a need for high volume production and consistency most nurseries propagate through varies means of cloning. This means that even when we are planting natives, many of these plants are genetically identical.

Whenever possible we love to work with native seed banks and smaller growers who are actively working to maintain a larger gene pool. The larger the gene pool the more resilient the population, as the plants are able to preserve their chances of future adaptation. For the true landscape connoisseur, the subtle variations visible in plants grown from seed can be a joy to observe in both native landscapes and in the garden.

The subtle variations in plants allowed to seed naturally are indicative of a resilient landscape.