Photo by Jess Cole
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect … That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. That land yields a cultural harvest is a fact long known, but latterly often forgotten.” —Aldo Leopold
Last month, on the porch of the beloved Magnolia Café in downtown St. Francisville, I had lunch with friend and Country Roads editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot. Over sensation salad, we chatted about these last two years of the column you are currently reading, “Our Sustainable Garden.” We discussed native plants and the ponderings to which native plants often bring us. We discussed the nuances between native plants, formal design, garden tips, and the natural world. As a naturalist, native plant advocate, and landscape designer, how do I separate these subtleties? Should I even try?
When talking native plants, it can sometimes be difficult to see the forest for the trees. The conversation has led me to re-examine many of the buzz words within the industry and this column that I tout so casually. Is there anything sustainable, for instance, to working with a native plant without looking at the greater picture of its impact on surrounding ecosystems?
I figured this could be a great time to re-establish the intention of my role in this column—which is to offer gardening advice and guidance in a form that brings abundance to your garden, while helping you to align yourself to the rhythms of the natural world. Ultimately, I hope to help you, reader, create sustaining systems within your landscape while minimizing negative impacts.
So, in honor of the 2026 “Into the Garden” issue, here is a refresher on language and philosophy within my little corner of Country Roads magazine.
[Read Jess Cole's very first edition of "Our Sustainable Garden," here: "Breaking Old Ground in a New World: Imagining a future of ecological healing through sustainable landscapes and native gardening"]
Sustainable
Here is the word from whence our column name sprung. The concept of sustainability—of using a resource in a manner that avoids depleting or damaging it—is vital to modern gardening, as we dance with many an industry that has scarred our natural world beyond comprehension and repair. Many feel lost in this, helpless. But within our small sphere, there are more accessible modes of sustainable operation than you might imagine. This is where my often-strict rejection of garden chemicals/fertilizers comes in. Sure, you can utilize beautiful native plants to bring beauty and abundance to your garden, but what is the point if you are using chemicals that strip your soil, pollute our waterways, and wreak havoc on local insect and wildlife populations? To practice “sustainability” is to ponder and respect the greater picture, and how all systems connect.
Sure, you can utilize beautiful native plants to bring beauty and abundance to your garden, but what is the point if you are using chemicals that strip your soil, pollute our waterways, and wreak havoc on local insect and wildlife populations?
Ecological
I find this descriptor to be a strong word commonly used within the plant world these days—often uttered interchangeably or right alongside “sustainable.” But the words differ in meaning. Ecology refers to the relationship between organisms and the environments in which they encompass. I use this word often when referring to my work as ‘ecologically minded’ design and consultation. In my practice, to be ecologically minded or ecologically sustainable is to take into consideration the natural relationships that are already surrounding me and find ways to use these observations within the gardens I create and nurture. The key, of course, is to honor those natural systems I am imitating by not partaking, to the best of my ability, in acts that destroy or diminish these intrinsic relations, within the garden or outside of it. An ecosystem is full of complex processes that have grown to be dependent and symbiotic of each other. To be ecologically minded is to recognize and protect all parts of the functioning system.
"In my practice, to be ecologically minded or ecologically sustainable is to take into consideration the natural relationships that are already surrounding me and find ways to use these observations within the gardens I create and nurture."
Natural World
The “natural world” refers to all characters (animals, plants, waterways, mountains, clouds, etc.) that occur naturally outside of the influence of man. Forgetfulness of our own place inside that world keeps humans stuck in a cycle of destruction, wherein we fail to realize that our actions have implications far beyond what we can see with our eyes. When contemplating sustainable gardening and native plants, the work goes far beyond one’s garden beds in the yard and into something more expansive—the natural world as a whole.
"Forgetfulness of our own place inside that world keeps humans stuck in a cycle of destruction, wherein we fail to realize that our actions have implications far beyond what we can see with our eyes."
Native Plants
Since becoming a hot topic both inside gardening circles and beyond, native plants still elicit considerable confusion concerning what exactly they are, how we use them, and their greater role in our environment.
Native plants are plants that have been here—in our case on the Gulf Coast—for millennia. As they co-evolved, native plants developed intricate relationships with local fauna and environmental systems, relationships that worked just fine without any human interaction at all.
"Aligning yourself, as a gardener, with native plants is one of the greatest ways you can bring abundance to this earth and beauty to your garden. Just remember that planting native plants alone does not mean you are working toward sustainability."
I can be a bit controversial in that, while I believe native plants are deeply important in our landscapes, I also don’t think that it always benefits us to be fundamental in the matter of planting “only” native, especially in these bizarre climactic times. The impacts of humans’ destructive use of the earth, causing ever more erratic weather patterns, are too profound for native plants to adapt quickly enough. So, I stay open to the idea of utilizing non-native species alongside our natives, reevaluating constantly where these wild plants fit into a world we have so heavily altered from its original state.
That being said, aligning yourself, as a gardener, with native plants is one of the greatest ways you can bring abundance to this earth and beauty to your garden. Just remember that planting native plants alone does not mean you are working toward sustainability. If you care to contribute and not negatively impact, evaluate the pros and cons of your garden practices, beyond just plant choice.
