Understanding Public Perceptions of Native Vegetation and Landscaping: Working with “Neatniks” to Create Sustainable Native Landscapes
It’s been said that perception is reality. This is certainly evident when property owners perceive prairies to be unattractive and messy. Prairies established within residential or public landscapes are often destroyed because they do not meet people’s aesthetic of neatness.
We are conditioned to identify property owners of highly manicured landscapes as good people who care about their property and the community. In our culture landscape neatness reflects upon the integrity of the property owner. But these very practices of creating landscape neatness – mowing, fertilizing, applying pesticides and watering – result in the ecological degradation of the very property for which the owner is (unconsciously) trying to provide good stewardship.
By incorporating the aesthetic of neatness into native landscapes, designers and restorationists enable property owners to take pride in the creation of diverse, ecologically-sound landscapes while providing good stewardship. Incorporating ‘cues to care’ such as clean, mown edges, blooming wildflowers, attractive fences and quality materials into prairie landscapes provides a level of neatness to satisfy our aesthetic and achieve our goals of sustainability and biodiversity.