How to Create a Landscape that Belongs Here

Finally, the backhoe is gone. You have your home or cottage back. Your landscaping is done.

But is it really?

Our landscapers in Haliburton County do a fantastic job, creating beautiful and functional settings for your cottage. But to make your home truly belong in its surroundings, the finishing touch comes from thoughtful planting choices. The best landscaping creates a natural connection to the local environment.

A trend in the past was to have large lawns and plants that might look great but in some way sit oddly within the surrounding landscape. It’s a bit like putting Yonge Street in the middle of Algonquin Park.

What would nature do?

What does that mean in practice? There are two key elements: choosing native plants – that’s plants that naturally grow here – and planting them in a way that mimics nature.

Native plants already know how to cope with our climate and our soils. If you match the right plant to the right conditions, it’s likely you’ll be on the way to making a successful landscape. Native plants also contribute to the place in which they live. They help create habitat and provide food for all sorts of insects, birds and mammals. The result is a positive feedback loop, because the more nature you provide, the more nature comes.

The second key element is to plant in a natural way. If you look at the typical suburban garden, you find plants in isolation, often surrounded by a sea of mulch. But if you look at a natural shoreline, you’ll find the plants are packed in closely, almost growing on top of each other.

I mimic natural areas by following three rules: planting densely, planting in layers, and creating a community. If I have a 100 sq ft garden, I would plant between 120 and 140 small plants. In a couple of years, the ground will be completely covered, meaning that the only plants you have there are plants you have chosen.

Creating natural layers

I plant a groundcover layer, often grasses or other low-growing plants, then a vignette layer, where you find the seasonal flowering plants, and then a structure layer, made up of plants such as shrubs, which frame the scene and provide all sorts of ecological benefits.

I don’t think of plants in isolation but rather as a whole. There are all sorts of relationships between plants and animals we don’t see and barely understand. To create a functioning ecosystem, we need to change our thinking away from separate organisms to a community.

An important choice

At Grounded, I’ve been called in to help with planting after the landscapers left, for example when a new deck was installed. This is a great opportunity to work with a blank canvas to create a landscape that fits in with the Highlands.

Homeowners can make a choice: do they want to contribute to nature or do they want to stand separate from it?

There’s a growing realization that we cannot continue to ride roughshod over the natural world. We now know we have a duty to do our part, to contribute to a better planet for all of us. And when we fit in with nature, we feel better about our place in the world.

This is a good time to make that choice – when the machinery is gone and you’re ready to put the finishing touches to your landscape. Will you choose to create something that looks like it belongs in the Highlands, or will you create something that could be anywhere in the world?

The choice is yours. But I know which one will bring you more joy in the long run, and which one will help create a healthier environment for all of us.