A recent edition of Landscape Management magazine discusses how to deal with widespread water shortages in the 21st century. Only an ostrich would believe it is not going to happen. Obviously, greens, tees, and fairways will take priority. The recent San Francisco earthquake was a terrible tragedy, but it could have been unthinkably worse without construction codes developed to limit damage. We need to establish the same long-term strategy for our vegetation in order for it to survive the worst crises that mother nature offers in the future.
Native vegetation is a long-term landscaping investment.
Once established, it works. Our glaciated prairie of northern Missouri was in existence for roughly 10,000 years. The unglaciated prairie of western Missouri, as well as the Ozark region and southeast lowlands, have been evolving for millions of years. The drought of 1988 was brutal, but native vegetation has been through it thousands of times without a hitch. Many articles have been written about prairies and native vegetation that have a poetic, Zen-like connotation to them.