How Do Ecological Restoration and Landscaping Differ?

• Restoration: a web of linked parts
• Landscaping: tidy shrubs arranged for looks

What you will learn

• State the goal of ecological restoration.
• State the goal of landscaping with native plants.
• Explain why a garden is hard to turn into a restored ecosystem.

Before you start

You only need to know that a native plant is one that belongs to a region. No specialist knowledge is needed.

What does ecological restoration do?

It helps a degraded place regain its natural functions. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) page on restoration definitions describes restoration as working on the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of returning natural or historic functions to a former or degraded wetland. The page says the objective is to emulate a natural, self-regulating system that is integrated ecologically with the surrounding landscape.

The work can include rebuilding earlier physical conditions, adjusting the chemistry of soil and water, and reintroducing absent native plants and animals. The EPA Greenacres programme adds a detail: restoration work involves working with the seed bank in the soil of natural areas, or replenishing it with native plants, to re-establish the original functioning ecosystem, the web of life.

• Soil layer holding a seed bank
• Native seedlings sprouting
• The working ecosystem re-established

What does landscaping with native plants do?

It designs a plot, usually to look good and be useful, and may use native plants. An article from Mississippi State University Extension describes naturalistic design: it uses primarily native plants in a non-formal manner, but freely includes exotic ornamentals. It also says native plants can be used like any other ornamental, even in formal designs, and how they are arranged usually does not affect their ecological value.

A garden has its own limits. According to the Greenacres page, soil in residential areas is often imported, or so disturbed that it no longer holds its seed memory. Benefits from native plants do not replace the goal of recovering the site's functions.

• Residential soil, possibly imported
• A row of planted native plants
• A butterfly returning to the garden

How do the two differ?

They differ in goal and in what each relies on. The Mississippi State article says this landscape approach differs significantly from ecological restoration, because restoration restores the native plant species and compositions that previously existed on the site. The Greenacres page cautions that native gardening does not recreate the entire complex ecosystem that once occupied the plot. In its residential-garden context, this distinguishes planting from recovery of a whole system; it does not establish that every garden is excluded from every restoration effort.

• Restoration goal: a working ecosystem
• Usual landscaping goal: appearance, shown as an eye
• The amount to be compared

Real-world example

Compare repairing an antique clock with making a handsome wall clock. Repairing the antique clock means getting it to run again as originally designed. Making the wall clock means choosing a shape and colours that please the eye. Both are useful, but their goals differ.

Ask yourself: when you plant a bed of native flowers by your house, are you restoring an ecosystem or gardening in a way that helps the environment? According to the sources above, the second is closer.

Common misunderstandings

Planting native plants alone does not establish ecological restoration. Assess the goal of returning system functions and components, rather than inferring recovery from a plant list.

A tidy landscape is not useless. Native plants can sit inside formal designs, and how they are arranged usually does not affect their ecological value.

Restoration is not just planting. It may include adjusting soil and water chemistry, rebuilding physical conditions and bringing back native animals as well.

Frequently asked questions

Is a native-plant garden ecological restoration?

Native plants alone do not establish that. Restoration aims to return ecosystem functions and components; an attractive garden by itself demonstrates a landscape design goal.

Why does garden soil differ from soil in a natural area?

Soil in residential areas is often imported or so disturbed that it no longer holds its seed memory, according to the Greenacres page.

Does landscaping use exotic plants?

Naturalistic design uses primarily native plants but freely includes exotic ornamentals, according to the Mississippi State University article.

Summary

• Ecological restoration aims to re-establish a working ecosystem with native parts.
• Landscaping with native plants aims at a good-looking, usable plot that may help the environment.
• Native plants are useful, but their presence alone does not establish recovery of the ecosystem.