dreamt of preserving the wonders of the natural world. It is a
dream that has been shared by many of us mere mortals. And
it is not as hard as you might think. Here are ten concrete
steps each of us can take to help create a truly sustainable
relationship with nature both on and off Kiawah Island.
Shrink the lawn
Most Kiawah properties do not overuse lawn, but that
makes Kiawah an exception. Typically, suburban, rural and
corporate landscapes have more space dedicated to lawn
space than anything else, and, in the U.S. that has resulted in
an area of lawn the size of New England. Every square foot of
lawn is a square foot that is degrading local ecosystems. Lawn
does not support a diverse food web. It is the worst plant
choice for sequestering carbon; it destroys pollinator habitat
and ruins our watersheds. Yet turf grass is the perfect plant
to walk on because it can take light to moderate foot traffic
without dying. Strips of lawn can also be a useful cue for care.
A general rule of thumb, then, might be to reduce your lawn
by half. Restrict turf to wide paths that guide you through
your landscape, that draw the eye to a featured aspect of your
design, or that define beds, tree groves, or various hardscapes.
Thomas Rainer and Claudia West suggest we think of lawn as
an area rug, not wall-to-wall carpeting. Superb advice!
Remove invasive species
There is room for compromise when choosing plants for our
landscapes, but not when it comes to introduced plants that
have a history of spreading to our natural areas at the expense
of native plant communities. This is a no-brainer when we
think of what invasive plants do; they are ecological tumors
that spread unchecked into our local ecosystems, castrating
their ability to function. Over time we can get control of
this problem, but not until we stop planting such species
as ornamentals and start investing the time and energy
required to remove those we have already planted. For most
homeowners, this can be accomplished without too much
blood, sweat, and tears. For folks who own larger properties,
it can be a substantial challenge. If every property owner
removed the invasive plants from his or her land, the goal of
ridding the U.S. of these troublemakers, or at least reducing
their seed rain to manageable levels, would be 83 percent
realized. We could then focus on public lands at our leisure.
Our research at the University of Delaware has shown that
a few genera of native plants form the backbone of local
ecosystems, particularly in terms of producing the insect
food that fuels them. We call these super plants “keystone
genera,” and landscapes that do not contain one or more
WINTER/SPRING 2019 • VOLUME 41
Plant keystone plants
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