1. SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES: Using Native Plants
October 28, 2015
Steven E. Yergeau, Ph.D.
Environmental & Resource Management Agent, Ocean & Atlantic Counties
Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County
Slide 1:
No script

2. Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Who We Are
Rutgers Cooperative Extension
A partnership between Rutgers University and New Jersey’s Counties operating through The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.
Our Mission
Integrating teaching, research, and outreach to anticipate and respond to issues and challenges in agriculture, food systems, environment and natural resources, and human and community health and development, in order to empower people to improve their lives, the lives of others, and the environments on which they depend.
Slide 2:
A brief introduction to Rutgers Cooperative Extension and what we do.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension is a partnership between Rutgers University and the 21 counties in New Jersey. This partnership is run through the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and was developed to integrate the teaching and research at the University into the daily lives of our clientele in each county. This clientele has traditionally been the agricultural community or farmers and growers, but also includes residents, not for profit organizations, municipal governments, and schools.

3. What is a Native Plant?
Plant species indigenous to a given area; plants that occur naturally in a particular area
Plant species living on North American continent before European settlement
Adapted to local conditions
rainfall amount
hardiness
soil type
Slide 3:
It may seem like a simple place to start, but “What makes a plant ‘native’ to an area or state?”
A native plant is any plant that can be found naturally growing in a particular area, especially open and ‘wild ‘ areas. Others define native plants as those that were found growing naturally before European settlement of North America.
Because of their habit for growing naturally in a particular area for a long period of time, native plants are well adapted to local weather conditions (rainfall and temperature) and soil conditions (acidity and nutrient levels).
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program

4. Native Landscaping
Native landscaping relies on the plants - trees, shrubs, grasses, sedges, wildflowers, etc. - that lived in our region for thousands of years and are well–adapted to local growing conditions.
Native plants are difficult to mass produce and distribute across the country.
Native plants vary regionally and help create a sense of place in the landscape.
Slide 4:
Native landscaping, or landscaping using native plants, relies on the adaptations of native plants to local growing conditions.
But because of they are adapted to local growing conditions, native plants are difficult to mass produce, especially in areas where they aren’t found naturally.
One of the benefits to a landscape using native plants is that they can create a local ‘sense of place’ where the natural environment has been incorporated into one’s residential surroundings.
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program 4

5. Native Landscaping 5 Slide 5:
Native plants are adapted to local weather conditions and are hardy when faced with weather extremes, such as local droughts.
During the summer and fall of 2015, New Jersey experienced lower than normal rainfall conditions that caused stress to plants.
Native plants are adapted to the cycles of above and below average rainfall and are able to survive short-term weather extremes.
Image Credit(s): 5

6. Native Landscaping 6 Slide 6:
Plants are also adapted to regions based upon the air temperatures they are capable of thriving in: called their hardiness zone. The hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone to avoid freezing.
Most of New Jersey is in Zones 6 and 7 as indicated on the scale at the bottom of this figure. Ocean County is found mostly within Zone 7 and can survive temperatures as low as 0oF.
Image Credit(s): 6

7. Conventional Landscaping
Conventional landscaping relies on a handful of commercial plants sold based on their function – hedge, groundcover, lawn grass, ornamental grass, etc.
Plants are easy for nurseries and stores to mass produce and distribute widely.
Creates monocultures and simplification of our landscapes
Heavy reliance on lawn or turf grass.
Slide 7:
Conventional landscaping, using commercially available vegetation involves plants that have been bred and grown under controlled conditions for their functionality (“Are they hedges?” “Is it a groundcover?”) regardless of local soil and weather conditions.
Because these plants are grown under controlled conditions, they can be easily mass produced and broadly distributed.
The high number of plants that can be purchased this way create areas of repetitive planting of the same vegetation, which simplifies the landscape and creates monocultures.
Conventional landscaping relies heavily on turfgrass that requires a lot of water and care to maintain.
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County

8. Conventional Landscaping
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This reliance on turfgrass, covering residential lawns, college and business campuses, and golf courses, has created a nation of turf. This image shows the percentage of lands in each state that are covered with turf, with the highest percentages found in the Northeastern United States.
Image Credit(s):

9. Benefits of Native Plants
Less Resource Intensive
No synthetic fertilizers or pesticides
Plants are well-adapted to local soil conditions
No Regular Mowing or Watering
Long roots eliminate the need for watering during summer droughts
Less Time Intensive
The average homeowner spends 40 hours per year just mowing the lawn
Less Costly
Slide 9:
There are many benefits to using native plants in one’s landscaping.
Native plants are less reliant on chemical fertilizers and pesticide because they are adapted to local soil conditions especially concentrations of macronutrients: phosphorus, potassium, magnesium.
Native plants require no mowing or regular watering, except under extreme drought conditions if the plants aren’t already drought-tolerant. Some plants have developed long roots to help find water, so require less watering. Some pruning may be required to keep native plants from blocking views or become hazards. Remember, landscapes with native plants are low maintenance NOT no maintenance.
In the long run, these benefits equate to less time spent maintaining a native landscape and less money spent on landscaping.
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County

10. Benefits of Native Plants
Positive Ecological Impact
Native plants support native insects which support birds and other wildlife
Most insects are specialists and have a specific relationship with a host
No two plant species have the same leaf chemistry. Insects have synchronized their life cycle with certain plants and adapted to be able to overcome physical and chemical defenses of their hosts.
Slide 10:
Native plants also support native wildlife, especially pollinators (insects and birds). Some pollinators are so specialized that they have a specific relationship with only one plant.
The classic example of this is the monarch butterfly which utilizes the milkweed plant throughout its life cycle. The female lays its eggs on the leaves of the milkweed plant, the caterpillar uses the leaves as food, and the adult butterfly feeds off of the nectar/sap from the milkweed’s flowers.
Knowing which pollinators are attracted to which native plant can help to provide critical wildlife habitat. You can also use this information to tailor your landscape to attract beneficial wildlife.
Photo Credit(s):

11. Benefits of Native Plants
Positive Ecological Impact
Improved soil fertility
Carbon storage
Increased stormwater infiltration
1 hour of lawn mowing equals 20 miles driven
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Native vegetation provides other ecological functions, such as improving soil fertility, storing carbon in the unmowed leaves and other parts of the plant, and increasing precipitation infiltration during storm events.
For example, soils that are heavily mowed can become compacted due to heavy equipment going back and forth over the grassed area. Each hours of lawn mowing equals driving 20 miles of back and forth over the same soil.
Photo Credit(s): Georgian Court University

12. Benefits of Native Plants
Compacted soils act like barriers as they can reduce or prevent infiltration of precipitation into the ground. This creates surface runoff with greater velocities, larger volumes, and increased flooding.
H2O
Non-Compacted
Compacted
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Compacted soils can inhibit water infiltration by reducing the size and number of pore spaces that water would travel through if the soil were not compacted.
This lack of infiltration can cause surface ponding of water and potential floods as water has to travel across the compacted soil’s surface and not down through the soil.
Image Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County

13. Jersey-Friendly Yards
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The Jersey-Friendly Yards website has a native plant database that you can search through for native plants with specific requirements (shade tolerance, salt tolerance, or deer resistance) or for specific regions of the state (barrier islands, the Highlands, or the Pinelands). It is a great resources if you are planning on replacing your conventional landscape with native plants.
Image Credit(s):

14. Rain Gardens
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One application of native plants in the landscape is a rain garden. Rain gardens are typically installed to collect rainwater off of a roof and capture it in the rain garden for up to 48 hours. This reduces the amount of water that enters storm drains along our streets and helps to reduce flooding.
Image Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program

15. Rain Gardens
A rain garden is a landscaped, shallow depression that is designed to intercept, treat, and infiltrate stormwater at the source before it becomes runoff. The plants used in the rain garden are native to the region and help retain pollutants that could otherwise harm nearby waterways.
Slide 15:
A rain garden is a landscaped, shallow depression that is designed to intercept, treat, and infiltrate stormwater at the source before it becomes runoff. The plants used in the rain garden are native to the region and help retain pollutants that could otherwise harm nearby waterways.
It is used as a means to decrease runoff volumes from impervious surfaces (such as rooftops) and provide some level of treatment for certain pollutants.
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program

16. Parts of a Rain Garden Slide 16: Parts of the rain garden include:
The grass buffer slows down the flow of water into the rain garden and provides some absorption of pollutants in stormwater runoff.
Depression is where the garden begins to slope downwards, it serves as a holding area.
Ponding area is lowest visible area in a rain garden. It is the deepest part of the garden, but should be level so the maximum amount of water can be filtered. However, it is very important that this area drains within 24 hours to avoid problems with stagnant water.
Below the ponding area is organic matter, such as compost, and a 3 inch layer of triple shredded hardwood mulch. The mulch acts as a filter and provides a home to microorganisms that decompose pollutants, for example, hydrocarbons such as oil.
Sand bed, if drainage is a problem, may be necessary to improve drainage as sand creates more air space.
Image Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program

17. Parts of a Rain Garden Slide 17:
The base is the area where the most water remains in a rain garden so plants planted here should prefer wet conditions, while plans along the buffer will be high up so plants planted here are more tolerant of dry conditions.
Image Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program

18. A Rain Garden Can Be. . .
Slide 18:
Rain gardens can come in a variety of forms and utilize a variety of vegetation types.
Rain gardens can provide butterfly habitat, can run along a sidewalk, can include trees and shrubs, can be built inside a parking lot island, or be a wet meadow or a perennial garden.
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program
Rain gardens can be readily implemented throughout communities to begin the process of re-establishing the natural processes of the land.

19. Rain Garden Benefits Slide 19:
Some of the benefits to installing rain gardens include their ability to treat some pollutants by capturing the water and soaking it into the ground and filtering it through the soil. A rain garden is good at removing about 90% of the sediment that enters it and about 60% of the phosphorus that enters.
Rain gardens can also be designed to seamlessly blend into existing landscaping to maintain the aesthetics of the yard.
Image Credit(s): City of Maplewood, MN

20. Slide 20:
One project we are working on in Ocean County is to develop a planting palette of native plants that are appropriate for rain gardens in coastal areas, especially those areas affected by Hurricane Sandy three years ago.
This is being conducted in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation - Jersey Shore Chapter, the Barnegat Bay Partnership, and the Ocean County Soil Conservation District.
Image Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program
Partnering with other groups to develop a ‘coastal rain garden’ planting template appropriate for these types of rain gardens and New Jersey shore.

21. Thank you!
Steven E. Yergeau, Ph.D. Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County 1623 Whitesville Road Toms River, NJ (732) ocean.njaes.rutgers.edu
Slide 21:
Thank you for your time and I’ll take any questions you may have.
Photo Credit(s): Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County