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What is a Plant of the Future?
From where we are sitting (Central/South-Western France), the future looks uncertain at best and hot at worst.
The plant of the future is a plant that can simultaneously handle the drought that will inevitably befall our regions at different intervals, but also has a few other tricks up its sleeve.
To name a few that can exist independently or in conjunction with each other:
- the ability to resist prolonged exposure to afternoon sun
- the ability to handle high salinity levels
- the ability to thrive in poor soils
- the ability to withstand high winds
- the ability to reproduce vegetatively
- the ability to adapt to rapid changes in precipitation
- the ability to handle flooding
- the ability to withstand frosts and even very severe frosts
The majority of the research upon which the selection of our collection is based is done by Olivier & Clara Filippi, alongside the Prague Botanical Center.
Research into drought-tolerance is fascinating as it gives us a peek at the natural powers that plants possess – to adapt and survive, of course, but, more importantly, to thrive.
That is what a plant of the future can do – thrive in the face of uncertainty, in the midst of difficulty and poor living conditions.
An example to us all perhaps.
Introducing : Xeri-scaping
A different way of gardening
The concept of xeriscaping (zer-i-scaping) is a new English word composed of “zeros” meaning dry in Greek and “scape” meaning the pattern of the landscape.
The Anglo-Saxons have fun making up new words 🙂
It was originally coined by the special task force of the Denver Water Department, Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado and Colorado State University to describe landscaping with water conservation as a major objective.
Dry climate gardens have often evoked images of sparseness and scarcity. Rocks and sad cactuses. Or just seas of gravel and a large menhir here or there.
No more.
Water wise gardens can be colorful, include a wide variety of plants, and delight as much as the traditional English garden border. Or the elegant French gardens. Or a more wild Mediterranean garden. Or – you get the idea.
Did it just get hotter in here?
As you may have noticed, it’s getting hotter in the world.
New temperature records were set in France in 2019 with a heat wave that flattened most of the country: Jura -41°C; Deux Sèvres – 43°C; Calvados -41°C, Haute Savoie – 41.1°C… the wine, the spirits, the cheese, the agriculture were all confronted with the reality of climate change.
While I am no climate scientist, but one thing that I have noticed is…when the temperatures rise, everyone gets thirsty.
And new records are being set every year ( Alpes Maritimes [2023 – 41.8°C], Loire-Atlantique [2023 -48.4°C], Ile et Villaine [2022 – 41.6°C]
Since part of my family is from California, where the conservation of water is a main feature of gardening, I took inspiration from the way that the water-wise gardeners have adapted to the climate to choose the plants for this collection.
The Collection
Our collection offers both native and adapted plants from high altitudes or dry desert ecosystems that are non-invasive.
Native plants allow for a natural rebalancing of an existing ecosystem – bringing back key pollinators and birds to gardens and even cities – as well as bringing back the stabilizing forces that the plants can have on their environment (nitrogen fixing, erosion prevention, heavy metal uptake).
Non-native plants allow for an introduction of plants that have developped drought-tolerance in particularly difficult environments (the ice plants of South Africa, the dry plants of the Mediterranean, the evergrey plants of the mountains). These plants are non-invasive and can be planted (and enjoyed!) in any garden.
BioDiversity
Xeriscaping places a large emphasis on using plants that are native to your region, contributing to the overall biodiversity of your area.
Plants that are local to our temperate European region are classified in the category ‘Rewild’.
So a xeriscaped/waterwise/drought tolerant garden can also be an important habitat for local wildlife – bees, butterflies, birds, hedgehogs, rabbits, foxes – or whichever creatures are native to your region.
So a new view of water wise gardens has evolved from the creativity and experimentation of gardeners to create a landscape that is both aesthetically pleasing and contributes to the broader goals of water conservation and eco-conscionsness that are defining the 21st century.
