{"id":17566,"date":"2016-04-20T02:28:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T09:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=17566"},"modified":"2016-04-24T05:20:56","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T12:20:56","slug":"novel-eco-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/novel-eco-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel Eco Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8216;Novel Ecosystems&#8217;<\/strong> is a catch all phrase to encompass the changes in an environment created in part by human contact.<\/p>\n<p>From an ecological stand point the free movement of &#8216;life&#8217; forms that\u00c2\u00a0 integrate with the new surroundings creates a localised eco-sytem. Consider this from the point of view of a garden that contains many imported plants, non-native species and even crops grown out of season. We gardeners intervene in &#8216;New Ecological World Order&#8217; either consciously or otherwise.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1118354222\/richardpettin-21\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/1118354222.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg\" alt=\"Book Cover\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Eco Changes in the Garden<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Conversion of greenbelt and pasture to housing or building on new sites can set up a domino of changes.<\/li>\n<li>The commercialisation of the horticultural industry since the Tulip Mania of 17th century has seen a growth in imported plants.<\/li>\n<li>Plant explorers seeking new, exotic or different species brought diversity back to the UK.<\/li>\n<li>The quest by gardeners for something new, better or different encourages change.<\/li>\n<li>Cross breeding has created may hybrids between native and invasive plants.<\/li>\n<li>New intentional and unintentional ecosystems created in areas of urbanization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Eco Problem Plants<\/h3>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Large conifer forests have replaced much of the UK&#8217;s native woodland.<\/li>\n<li>Rhododendron ponticum is<span class=\"st\"><span class=\"st\"><span class=\"st\"> native to southern Europe and southwest Asia. &#8216;The plant is responsible for the destruction of many native habitats and the abandonment of land throughout the British Isles&#8230;. Where conditions are suitable Rhododendron will out compete most native plants&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.countrysideinfo.co.uk\/rhododen.htm\">A Killer of the Countrysideinfo<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"st\"><span class=\"st\"><span class=\"st\">With a dangerous sap Giant hogweed (<em>Heracleum mantegazzianum<\/em>) is on the list of invasive plants covered by UK legislation.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"st\"><span class=\"st\"><span class=\"st\">Japanese knotweed (<em>Fallopia japonica<\/em>) is also listed along with some 30+ other species.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Hydrocotyle ranunculoides or Pennywort, a floating pond weed, is one of several water borne plants causing concern<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Other Eco-Issues<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The abundance of native species\u00c2\u00a0 can be over taken\u00c2\u00a0 by invader species. This can lead to the loss of our native plants.<\/li>\n<li>Novel environments can change soil condition and fertility often significantly.<\/li>\n<li>Over time the local and regional appearance may look and act very differently. Ancillary and support areas can be displaced.<\/li>\n<li>Water resources and riparian issues may become problematic.<\/li>\n<li>Invader species may harbour new insects, fungi and\/or disease.<\/li>\n<li>Novel ecosystems can become entrenched over time with concomitant problems. It is not always possible to return to a previous status quo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Intervention or Eco Free for All<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Gardeners are contributing to the widespread emergence of novel ecosystems and we should rethink traditional approaches to plant selection, garden design and conservation.<\/li>\n<li>Traditional approaches emphasizing native species and historical continuity recreating historic gardens may be doomed to failure.<\/li>\n<li>When and how to intervene is a question of how humanity manages and restores ecosystems in a rapidly changing world. Gardeners have a small role in this regard and we do well to make considered decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Novel Ecosystems&#8217; is a catch all phrase to encompass the changes in an environment created in part by human contact. From an ecological stand point the free movement of &#8216;life&#8217; forms that\u00c2\u00a0 integrate with the new surroundings creates a localised eco-sytem. Consider this from the point of view of a garden that contains many imported plants, non-native species and even crops grown out of season. We gardeners intervene in &#8216;New Ecological World Order&#8217; either consciously or otherwise. Eco Changes in&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/novel-eco-gardens\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,10],"tags":[284,283],"class_list":["post-17566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-gardening","category-flowers","tag-biodiversity","tag-ecological"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}