At the heart of ecological gardening is learning to work in concert with nature, not against it. That’s how gardeners come to understand how they can create beauty while fostering biodiversity and healthy soil. To explain some of the many ways anyone can practice ecological gardening, joining me this week is Matt Mattus, the senior director of horticulture for the American Horticultural Society.
Matt is someone whose curiosity about plants has taken him into just about every corner of the horticultural world. His popular blog is Growing with Plants. He doesn’t just write about plants, he grows a lot of them, from vegetables and annual flowers to alpines, bulbs and greenhouse plants.
Matt Mattus is the senior director of horticulture for the American Horticultural Society.
Matt is a New Englander. He resides in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the house that his grandfather built. Both Matt and his father were born in the house, and today, Matt lives in the same bedroom he was born in. To put his family’s long history in the home into perspective, Matt points out that his father died in 2014 at the age of 100. Matt has dug up toys in the garden that had been there since his father’s childhood.
The property has a two-acre garden and a greenhouse, and there is an 11-acre forest behind it. Matt’s father had two brothers who were landscape designers — seven brothers in all — and they laid out the garden in the 1920s with a formal, early 20th century style with straight stone paths, goldfish ponds, a rose garden and arbors.
He says the garden had good bones and good access lines, but it has evolved over the years like any good garden does over the years.
“My parents were gardeners too, and maybe not as serious as me, but serious enough where we had a quarter-acre, half-acre vegetable garden,” he recalls.
His parents canned everything. He recalls as a 5- or 6-year-old weeding and picking beans all day on the hottest day of the year, then processing the beans all night long for canning.
By the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he was given his own corner of the garden to grow sunflowers, giant pumpkins and “whatever a kid grows.” By the time he was 12, he was entering Worcester County Horticultural Society contests, displaying rare plants, cut true lilies, potted trained herbs and exotic vegetables. Eventually, he took over the family garden.
Entomologist and conservationist Doug Tallamy frames ecological gardening outside of how gardening has traditionally been. He says: “In the past all we ever asked of our gardens was that they be pretty, but now we have to ask so much more of them.”
Essential Guide to Ecological Gardening
Earlier this year, the American Horticultural Society published “Essential Guide to Ecological Gardening: Techniques and Know-How for Gardening with Nature.”
Matt says ecological gardening is more than a trend. “It’s something many of us know we have to do.”
It’s in the news, in almost every gardening book and all over social media, with messages such as “plant natives,” “get rid of your lawn” and “recycle your leaves.”
“Because it’s everywhere, I think it confuses or overwhelms,” he says.
In New England, gardeners have long had a sensitivity to native plants, according to Matt. But in the prairie, the far West or the South, that wasn’t the case historically.
Matt’s father was active with the New England Wildflower Society, so Matt grew up with a great respect for native plants.
“As time went on through the 1990s, 2000s, we started to realize it’s a bigger picture than that. There are plants that are at risk. There are plants that are extinct. There are ecosystems to think about. There’s that whole interweb of how plants, insects and birds — all in migration — how this all connects together. And I think even a lot of non-gardeners are seeing this now.”
The new book wasn’t created to call anyone out or punish anyone, he says.
“We’re not saying ‘you must do this’ and ‘you cannot do that.’ You could be a responsible ecological gardener on a deck or in a container outside on your terrace.”
The book also doesn’t tell gardeners that they must give up their lawns.
“ It’s not a 100% my way or the highway approach,” Matt says. “Anyone can choose the level you want to be involved with the garden and with the ecology around you.”
Ecological gardening is about considering every living organism and recognizing that a lot of “pests” aren’t really pests at all, he explains.
An oak tree or another keystone species will attract hundreds of moths that people are comfortable killing — little gray moths — but planting those keystone species will also save the more beautiful butterflies, he says.
Those moths that are treated like nuisances, such as oak skeletonizers and corn moths, are actually very valuable to birds and the greater ecosystem. The moths’ larvae (caterpillars) are baby bird food.
The American Horticultural Society’s “Essential Guide to Ecological Gardening: Techniques and Know-How for Gardening with Nature.”
Mindset Shift
Ecological gardening means letting go of some control. Matt says there is still some control gardeners will want, such as having a lawn and trimming hedges.
“ Controlling the garden was a big part of gardening for the past 70 years,” he says. “Whether it’s from lawnmowers to hand clippers to pruners, to trying to keep things neat and tidy and trimmed.”
In the past 30 years, we’ve learned a lot about the hazards of constant maintenance and annual tilling.
Now Matt has 2 acres with no lawn — but there was a time when that lawn was perfectly mowed with stripes and even had a golf green because his uncles worked on a golf course.
Control Invasive Species
In New England, Matt doesn’t live with some of the daily concerns that are big issues elsewhere, such as water conservation. But he does contend with an overpopulation of deer and invasive species.
Battling invasive species is an all-important job in ecological gardening.
“If we don’t do something to eradicate them to give native plants a chance, we’re just getting into a deeper hole every day,” Matt says.
Don’t Let a Purity Test Be a Barrier to Ecological Gardening
Matt considers himself a generalist rather than a purist. His garden has plants from all over the world in addition to native plants and nativars. He also points out that some nativars have been found to produce more pollen than native plants. “So depending on the species, we’re all learning that it’s not as bad and dire as we think it is,” he says.
Having a lawn as dictated by a homeowners association does not need to stop ecological garden efforts in their tracks. It is not an all-or-nothing prospect. Maybe ecological gardening practices are confined to containers and raised beds or a less visible area to avoid citations.
“You could just be conscious about it and aware and plant something that checks out four or five boxes out of the 10,” Matt says.
Different floral structures attract different types of bees. This false indigo (Baptisia australis) has lobed flowers that require a heavy pollinator to open them. Here, one is hosting both a bumblebee and a wool carder bee.
Photo Credit: Janet Davis
How to Make Changes?
Before turning a garden into an ecological garden, Matt advises learning what you have to begin with, and going from there. Work in as many native plants as you can without having to give up favorite plants that perform well.
Before buying new plants, learn if they were raised with growth regulators or treated with systemic pesticides such as neonics that will undermine your efforts to be a better steward of wildlife.
“Most of the more serious insecticides, they’re systemic, and they could last a whole summer if you buy them in spring,” Matt warns.
There are other options, such as raising plants from seeds yourself or buying from small mom-and-pop garden centers and nurseries.
Insect relationships for Quercus alba, the white oak.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Mattus
He says trying to create the perfect plant to sell is a real problem in commercial horticulture.
Matt encourages quitting chemical-dependent lawns and moving away from using peat and toward using compost.
He uses local compost, which in Massachusetts includes lobster, shrimp and kelp compost. But he admits he didn’t always.
“ I was resistant to that for years. And now realizing that if I can add that to my soil mix that I’m using in the greenhouse, it’s much better than any of the commercial mixes I’m getting,” he says.
For big decisions like what trees to plant, Matt recommends checking with your local cooperative extension service, because the most beneficial and suitable trees vary by region.
The typical street trees in your neighborhood were probably chosen because they have high, non-brittle limbs. But those won’t necessarily be the most ecologically valuable trees.
The perennial layer is often the most colorful with an incredible diversity of native plants available to home gardeners.
Photo Credit: Janet Davis
Design for Beauty
“We all want our gardens to look beautiful,” Matt says. “So they don’t have to look like a weedy back lot, which I think a lot of people think an ecological garden looks like.”
It comes down to design — not just relying on a wildflower seed mix. “Most people know that doesn’t work,” he says.
Creating a beautiful ecological garden does take some effort, according to Matt. “It’s not easy to get that natural looking garden to look beautiful.”
But, he adds, more companies are selling landscape plugs now and matrix plans are becoming more widely available, giving gardeners greater support so they can balance ecological function with aesthetics and neighborhood expectations.”
Plants that are the main characters in ecological gardens may be sources of complaints from HOAs and municipalities.
“People think they’re weeds,” Matt says.
“ You may have to bring out a designer or you may have to read a lot of books and invest some money into doing it. You just can’t turn over your soil and leave it alone and let it go natural, because you’re going to get a lot of invasives. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
Matt suggests trying it out first with a bed next to your driveway or another place where it’s safe to experiment.
“It’s not really an easy way to garden — it is the right way,” he says.
Matt is working to reestablish the native plants that would have been in his garden historically, such as mountain laurels and birches. And he is thinking in layers: ”There’s understory shrubs and trees. And then there’s this layer of birches and then white pines above that, and then taller trees above that. So almost four tiers. And then on the ground, it’s ephemerals — it’s trilliums, and I’m sure I’ll factor in some Asiatics and European plants like hellebores and snowdrops.”
He also envisions including native trillium, polemonium and ferns. He advises finding out what was growing where your home is before your home was built. “That may help you establish or build that sort of natural looking matrix that might survive better and look beautiful.”
Plant choice will also dictate how useful a garden is to pollinators. For instance, goldenrod may attract 100 different species while a milkweed may attract less than 10, Matt points out. “It’s not all about the monarchs and honeybees,” he says.
And ecological gardening serves more than just pollinators while beautifying landscapes.
“ It’s not just about aesthetics,” Matt says. “This is about adding more housing for wildlife, more shade to cool off the ground.”
Matt is looking to the rising generation to be at the forefront of the ecological gardening movement. “ Young people are the future for our ecological gardening awareness, and it’s their job and responsibility to teach the rest of us how to do it right,” he says.
A swallowtail butterfly on a milkweed plant.
Photo Credit: Susan Mulvihill
If you haven’t listened to my conversation with Matt Mattus on ecological gardening essentials, you can do so now by scrolling to the top of the page and clicking the Play icon in the green bar under the page title.
How have you adopted ecological gardening in ways big or small? Let us know in the comments below.
Links & Resources
Some product links in this guide are affiliate links. See full disclosure below.
Episode 071: Gardening for Wildlife: How-to Create an Inviting Habitat, with NWF’s David Mizijewski
Episode 077: The Beauty and Importance of Native Plants: The Ethos of Mt. Cuba Center
Episode 133: Native Plant Design in a Post-Wild World, with Thomas Rainer
Episode 134: Bird Population Decline and What Gardeners Can Do to Help
Episode 142: Why Our Plant Choices Matter: Nature’s Best Hope, with Doug Tallamy
Episode 152: The Native Plant Trust: Why Plant Choices Matter
Episode 206: Our Most Essential Trees: The Nature of Oaks, with Doug Tallamy
Episode 237: Ecological Gardening: Creating Beauty & Biodiversity
Episode 331: The Ecological Garden Blueprint: 10 Essential Steps That Matter Most
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joegardener Online Gardening Academy Perfect Soil Recipe Master Class: Learn how to create the perfect soil environment for thriving plants.
Matt Mattus on Instagram | @matt_mattus
“Essential Guide to Ecological Gardening: Techniques and Know-How for Gardening with Nature” by the American Horticultural Society
“Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening” by Matt Mattus
“Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening” by Matt Mattus
Native Plants Finder | National Wildlife Federation
Soil3 – Our podcast episode sponsor and Brand Partner of joegardener.com
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I receive a commission every time you purchase a product through an Amazon affiliate link. Some product links in this guide are affiliate links. However, none of the prices of these resources have been increased to compensate us, and compensation is not an influencing factor on their inclusion here. The selection of all items featured in this post and podcast was based solely on merit and in no way influenced by any affiliate or financial incentive, or contractual relationship. At the time of this writing, Joe Lamp’l has professional relationships with the following companies who may have products included in this post and podcast: Milorganite, Soil3, Territorial Seed Company, Cool Springs Press / Quarto Group and Dramm. These companies are either Brand Partners of joegardener.com and/or advertise on our website. However, we receive no additional compensation from the sales or promotion of their product through this guide. The inclusion of any products mentioned within this post is entirely independent and exclusive of any relationship.
