Working against species extinction in your own garden - Conservation Gardening

As the number of plant species threatened with extinction is high and continues to rise, particularly because the habitats for many plants are disappearing, gardens and parks are playing an increasingly important role in the conservation of these endangered plants. As advocates of nature-oriented gardening, biodiversity is very important to us #Beetschwestern, as you probably already know. We gardening enthusiasts have the opportunity to play a positive role in preserving native plants by consciously choosing local varieties. In Germany, there is now an app that shows you native plants in your region that you could plant in your own garden.

The number of endangered species in Austria has increased since the last publication: 66 species are extinct or lost throughout Austria in 2022, 235 species are threatened with extinction, plus a further 973 species that are endangered to a lesser or, in rare cases, unknown extent.

Many species can be used for horticultural purposes

Endangered plant species could thrive on a large scale in our gardens and green spaces. A research team led by Ingmar Staude from the University of Leipzig explains in the journal "Scientific Reports" that more than 40 percent of the species on Germany's Red List could potentially be used for horticultural purposes.

For Germany, there is a newly developed web app Plant Lists for Conservation Gardening, which can be used to find local endangered species. Unfortunately, this does not exist for Austria. The search for local endangered plants in Austria is difficult because it is not possible to search by region in the existing database. And not according to many other criteria either. It was too much for us.

Detours to the destination

But we gardening enthusiasts can take a detour and find out which wild flowers can be purchased - for example from the Arche Noah association, wildeblumen.at or Voitsauer Wildblumensamen (to name just three that we have already had personal contact with).

"We hope that growing demand for conservation gardening will create diverse, local markets for genetically diverse wild plants of local origin and without the mass production of genetic clones," says Staude. You can also find (German) producers in the app. In any case, we need to say goodbye to the same old, monotonous range of often exotic ornamental plants in DIY stores and discounters.

The advantages of native plants are

• • • their better chances of survival in times of climate change
    • provide food and nurseries for countless native insect species
    • require neither pesticides nor fertilizers and often no irrigation water

Central role for conservation

"Public and private gardens and green spaces could play a central role in preserving plant diversity," says Josiane Segar, lead author of the study, according to a press release. "But this would require a turnaround in horticulture."

A few facts (Germany) from the study that are also interesting for us:

• • • Around 41 percent of the species on the Red List (988 species) are therefore suitable for domestic gardens.
    • Of these, 650 (66 percent) are available in German stores.
    • 45 percent of the species prefer dry soils and therefore need less watering.
    • Only 27% of conventional garden plants are also suitable for dry soils.

Species love poor soils

"Over-fertilized soils are rather unsuitable and a reason for their disappearance in the wild, because many endangered species feel more at home in poor soil," says Staude. Some soils therefore have to be leached with sand. Watering is then no longer necessary. According to Staude, a small area in the garden is enough to get started - for example, a 2 x 2 meter area where native shrubs such as common barberry, two-ribbed hawthorn and various types of broom, which attract many insects, are planted instead of cherry laurel and the like.

Mountain leek (Allium lusitanicum), wood anemone (Anemone sylvestris) and common pitch carnation (Viscaria vulgaris) also offer potential.

And instead of the usual herbs, local, lesser-known herbs such as sand thyme, sweet umbellifer and Geneva bugloss can be used. "You can experiment a lot," says Staude.

As examples, he mentions the field dog chamomile, the cornflower and the greater burnet, all of which are on the early warning list of the German Red List. Even suitable for the balcony, he says, are the Carthusian carnation, the black honeysuckle and the mountain aster, the latter two of which are considered "endangered" throughout Germany.

Your #Beetschwestern wish you lots of fun researching and experimenting