Gardens and Stream Ecology: A case for the Exotic Plant in New Zealand

Debate about the relative merits of the use of native plants in the landscape as opposed to exotic flora is occurring in many countries. On the one hand, much of the key landscape character in Europe is based on non-indigenous flora; on the other, in New Zealand, because the flora changes are relatively recent and arguably more noticeable, there is a strong tendency to favour native planting, especially in riparian areas. The authors of this paper are interested in how to link planting themes from urban gardens into adjacent streamside ecologies. Given that native plant use in these areas is well documented, the possibility of using exotic plants as research subjects was investigated. The opposition this proposal met with was based within the native versus exotic paradigm, and strongly tied to the discourse on weeds. This paper argues that changing the focus from a native versus exotic debate to an investigation of what plant material can offer ecologically, suggests a way forward. The possibility that, in gardens (and other landscapes) ecological, outcome-founded designs need not distinguish between native and exotic plants is explored, and it is shown that ecological outcomes are not the sole preserve of the native components of the flora