Climate-resilient garden: making smart and sustainable choices

Creating a sustainable environment is a necessary good. And it doesn't even have to be very drastic. But the fact is that we can all do something together to get concrete. Green roofs make the world a more beautiful place and by choosing climate-resilient trees and plants you ensure an always beautiful and soothing environment, even during extremely dry periods.

These days there is a lot of talk about climate-resistant plants. And with good reason, of course, because those plants are often stronger and more resistant to drought or extreme rainfall. But everything really starts with analyzing your own environment. Think locally. Make sure you match the plants in your garden to the environment you live in. If you have sandy soil, then during extremely dry periods it will be a big challenge for your plants to stay alive. If you live near a forest or there is more shade, then you will also need to match those plants to that specific location. Choose native plants and make sure they do exactly what the immediate area expects of them. On a dry sandy soil, you can then choose ornamental grasses and prairie flowers. Echinacea is suitable, but Achillea, Agastache and Gaura or Verbena and Perovskia are also recommended. Then again, in wooded areas you can plant lots of shade-loving groundcovers and shrubs. Every environment is different, try not to expect your plants to do well everywhere. That avoids a lot of problems when making a planting plan. Climate-resistant plants, in other words.

In a sustainable and climate-proof garden, animals have a say. By landscaping your garden in such an animal-friendly way that birds come to nest or stay, hedgehogs choose their hiding place and useful insects take shelter, you ensure fewer pests and a vibrant ecosystem. Layering plantings, provide shrubs, trees and varying flowering periods for the perennials in your garden. This will benefit bees, bumblebees and butterflies, as well as birds that can hide more easily and have plenty of food available that way. Be creative and make decisions according to the animals that live in them. Renounce chemicals and opt for ecological and organic, this will benefit everyone.

A green roof in the city, or in any place, is an excellent way to do your part for a better environment. Not only is it incredibly beautiful, it also combats urbanization in many ways. You create a green environment, a biotope for insects and also an excellent opportunity to do something about that rainwater problem. Because green roofs are very ingenious. Remarkable: almost 75% of all rainwater is lost through our sewers. While plants on a green roof just deal with that water very sparingly. Indeed, during heavy rainfall, the substrate in which the (climate-resistant) plants grow absorbs a large part of the water, another part evaporates again and ends up in our atmosphere. In the end, only a small - almost unbelievable - 5% of the rainwater would then have to be drained away. Green roofs also have an insulating function. During the summer it is colder inside, while during the cold winter months it is just warmer.