Plant Communities

Back in the day, native plants were replaced with exotics by most people, but a few like Lester Rowntree, appreciated how delightful the natives were. Lester Rowntree was a woman who spent thirty years (the 1920's, 30's and 40's) driving all over the state of California saving plants and seeds from development. She traveled mostly alone in her little truck, though sometimes she traveled by mule. When she (and others) began exploring and saving California plants as she decribes in her major works: "Hardy Californians, A Woman's Life with Native Plants" and "Flowering Shrubs of California and Their Value to the Gardener", there was no mention of plant communities. However writers like her would note the other plants growing nearby.

Gradually, it began to become evident that certain plants seemed to be found together in definable micro-climates in the state. I'm not sure that these categories are hard and fast in anyone's mind but there do seem to be several of general acceptance. Since these plants are linked thanks to the mycorrhizal fungi, it makes a lot of sense that certain plants do especially well together because they are connected in a way that these early researchers in California's botany had no idea existed.

A few of these recognized plant communities include Chaparral, Coastal Sage Scrub, Oak Woodland, and Riparian. Some professional designers might wish to stick to one plant community in a household garden, but others like Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrok, who wrote "Designing California Native Gardens, The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens" put one community's plants in one area then transition to another. This follows nature's pattern, of course, since water or other factors may bring these communities into quite close contact.

There is also the succession factor at work too. A chaparral community may be moving toward an oak woodland as acorns are planted by jays or squirrels.