« New plant associations remain possible »
Stanislas Alaguillaume, landscaper, gardener
“Meeting climate challenges requires promoting animal and plant diversity. To achieve this, the key is to create biotopes (geographical areas whose ecological conditions are constant and homogeneous, and therefore favorable to the cycle of life, editor’s note) which live without gardening artifice and without automatic watering.
However, it is not essential to limit oneself to species already present locally. Our current landscapes are the result of mixing plants from all over the world. Even today, new plant associations remain possible, provided that they are adapted to the environment. This experiment is the gardener’s adventure. In the shade of a tree, we will associate, for example, acanthus and Madeira geraniums. Both will be able to coexist without artifice and will contribute to the desired diversity.
→ ANALYSIS. Gardeners facing the challenge of climate change
It is equally important to plant at the right time – in November for example, in the Mediterranean area – and to ensure that the potted plants used and which are now, for the most part, produced abroad, have a root system well developed and in good condition, otherwise they may not survive. »
“Native plants are already adapted to the climate”
Sylvia Lochon-Menseau, director of the National Mediterranean Botanical Conservatory in Porquerolles
“In the gardens, it is above all necessary to put plants that do not consume water. So plants that are adapted to drought to be in tune with climate change: native or exotic. It is interesting to put native plants insofar as they are already adapted to the climate. The French Office for Biodiversity and the national botanical conservatories have developed a label – the “local plant” brand – and label nurseries who multiply native species.
But among exotic plants, what is most important is to choose those that are unlikely to escape into the wild where they could compete with native species. They could become invasive and threaten ecosystems and habitats with negative ecological consequences.
The National Mediterranean Botanical Conservatory has developed a website that provides a better understanding of exotic plants and the risks associated with their escape, in order to avoid introducing species likely to colonize fragile environments, such as gardens by the sea. The creeks of Marseille, for example, are today invaded by exotic species. »