Survival of the Fittest

Wildflower Planting, January 31, 2021

Wetland Planting, January 31, 2021


Charles Darwin first wrote about the concept of natural selection in his book, The Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859.  In it, he wrote extensively about how nature tends to sort species out within natural communities over time - choosing the ones most adapted to survive and those that are not to disappear. It remains one of the most important concepts in understanding ecology to this day and it influences planted communities as much as natural ones.

We sometimes fail to understand this fully when we design landscapes, whether at home or in restoration projects. What we fail to fully comprehend is that our artificial plantings will adhere to the same tenets of natural selection that direct the natural plantings in the world around us. Our landscapes are communities, even if they are artificial ones. We can try to put our meddling hands on them, but eventually nature and natural selection will win out. 

This has once again been brought home to me here in my relatively new landscape in Holiday. I no longer have all of the plant species I started with nor do I have the same general design. Plant species have disappeared and others have moved around. As some have prospered, they have taken up space that some of the others seemingly needed. Some simply disappeared - not returning the next spring after seemingly doing fine the months before. It is what I expected, and what every gardener should expect, if planting a community instead of a monoculture of just one species. Even then, it is always disquieting finding out that certain species you desire are not adapted to your community.

For a few, I have moved them elsewhere in places where they will have more "elbow room". My once-thriving patches of Georgia aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum) struggled last summer and disappeared by late fall without flowering. I've moved a few to my backyard plantings where they have virtually no competition. It wasn't a failure in providing the right soil and water conditions, I believe, but one of crowding from more-aggressive plants. The same is true for my butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). In the first summer, this species did amazingly well and set large numbers of seed. Last summer, I did not get a single seed pod. They are just getting crowded out. If I want to maintain it, I will have to move some to a new area in the back. The front community is full.

I have always valued diversity, but I'm realistic enough to know that not every member of my community plays well together. I have lost 2 of my 4 goldenrods (Solidago spp.), but the two others have reseeded and suckered a bit to fill a much larger space than I once envisioned. The pinebarren frostweed (Crocanthemum corymbosusm) has spread outward from its original space to cover far more space than I desire. I will likely weed it back a bit later this winter, but it has a firm hold in my community and I respect that.  For those of us who design and plant a meadow-type planting, we need to accept that some of our initial members will thrive and some will not. We need to embrace the species who reward us with dependable growth. We can mourn those that don't, but we can only add them into a different planting or remain frustrated. After all, a community of plants will adhere to the concept of natural selection and ultimately the most fit will survive despite our best intentions.
 

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