How Do Trees Interact With Other Greenery in Your Yard?
Every residential yard is a landscape of its own, where trees are pillars of stability within each property’s particular ecosystem. In this article, we’ll take a look at the various ways that trees interact with other plants, both competitively and collaboratively. Throughout, we’ll consider how to maintain these interactions in balance to keep your Nashville yard in its healthiest and most beautiful condition.
How Do Trees Interact With Other Plants in the Yard?
As major green infrastructure, trees affect and interact with other plants in the local ecosystem in a variety of ways:
Providing ecosystem services
Casting shade
Competing for space and nutrients
Dropping leaves and seeds
Creating microenvironments
Communicating with other plants
Ecosystem Services
Trees are keystone features of a landscape, managing the conditions of the land and water cycle to help themselves and other plants thrive in place. By providing ecosystem services like stabilizing soil and capturing and releasing moisture, healthy trees support other plants in the landscape at a fundamental level.
Shaded Conditions
A big, mature canopy tree can cast a lot of shade, which limits the plants that will grow in its shadow. However, certain types of plants prefer partial or full shade, so gardeners can work with these areas by planting species that tolerate or even thrive in the shade.
Shade-loving species of grass help fill in shaded areas for an even lawn and consistent ground cover, while bushes and understory trees contribute to soil stability and vertical layers of vegetation. Similarly, flowerbeds and vegetable gardens that are located within the shared space of a tree should be planted with shade-tolerant choices.
Competition for Nutrients and Space
When plants grow in close proximity, they tend to compete for nutrients, moisture, and space in the ground they share. Trees, grass, shrubs, and other greenery in our yards each have specific needs that may overlap (like water, vitamins, and minerals) and others that are in opposition to other specimens (like space to accommodate their size). As long as a garden is properly managed with regular watering, adequate fertilization, and appropriate trimming, each plant will get the nourishment and space it needs to grow.
Tree Droppage
Some trees drop more material than others, which might smother grass or nearby plants if the droppage isn’t managed. However, leaving a small layer of leaves in place helps wildlife of all kinds and contributes ground cover that enriches the soil. Designated areas of the yard, like under bushes or in back corners, can be a great spot to attract wildlife while keeping your autumn and winter lawn clear if you can’t leave the leaves where they fall.
Seed droppage can result in volunteer saplings growing in lawns, flower beds, or anywhere they can take root in spring. Those saplings compete for nutrients and space with whatever else might grow in a given spot, so clearing up fallen nuts and seeds as soon as possible will help reduce volunteer growth.
Tree Microenvironments
Trees directly interact with some organisms by creating a supportive structure on which they can grow. These organisms are called “epiphytes” (from Greek, meaning “upon a plant”), which include moss and lichen. While vines and mushrooms aren’t true epiphytes, they are also frequently found growing on trees.
Moss: Moss spreads by spores and anchors to a tree’s exterior as it grows. Moss doesn’t harm a tree since it collects nutrients and moisture from the air. Excessive moss can indicate overly moist conditions, but sparse patches usually indicate a healthy environment.
Lichens: Like moss, lichens (organisms composed of both fungi and algae) spread by spores, anchor to the exterior of a tree as they grow, and receive nutrients and moisture from the air. The presence of lichens also indicates a healthy environment since they grow best in clean air conditions.
Vines: Vines spread by seeds or runners, growing roots in the ground and along their stems to attach to the tree as they climb. While a few vines on a healthy tree can be harmless or even help stabilize soil at the base, excessive vine coverage can harm the tree by damaging the protective bark, which needs to stay ventilated and dry to protect against pests, mold, and rot.
Mushrooms: Important decomposers, fungi break down organic matter and recycle nutrients back into the soil. They can usually be found on dead wood or fallen branches. If mushrooms are growing on a living tree, especially at the base or around exposed wounds, it can indicate a fungal infection in the tree that needs attention from a certified arborist.
Can Trees Communicate With Other Plants?
Trees communicate with nearby plants using their roots and airborne chemical signals:
Roots: Fungi in the soil connect the roots of different plants, forming a network that trees and other plants can use to warn each other about pests and diseases or to send nutrients to struggling neighbors.
Airborne Chemical Signals: Plants send chemicals through the air to warn other plants of damage and danger, which triggers defensive mechanisms that can prevent pests or infections from taking hold.
Although the underground communication goes unnoticed, the airborne chemical signals that trees and other plants produce to share information with one another can be smelled.
Trees and Other Plants in the Nashville Landscape
Trees and other plants share space in our residential yards and gardens, and this proximity has other kinds of environmental implications:
Pollination: Flowering trees help attract pollinators to the yard with their sweet floral scent (another chemical action). Pollinating visitors will browse all vertical levels of available flowers!
Pests and Diseases: Plants of different types can contract diseases through the air, water, and insects, as well as by touching when specimens come into direct contact (above-ground or below-ground). Treating an infected specimen immediately and keeping plants in their healthiest condition helps deter the spread of pests and infections.
Yard Care Coordination: Regular yard work helps maintain a good balance in the environment, and coordinating tree care with lawn care and other gardening duties ensures that the different features of the landscape have their unique needs met throughout the year.
Yard Work Equipment: Be sure that lawnmowers, weed trimmers, aeration tools, and any other equipment don’t damage tree trunks or roots when caring for other plants in the yard. Edging borders and mulching techniques can help create defined barriers that protect trees and help manage the landscape.
Tree Planting in Nashville
Search for a sun-loving canopy species or a shade-tolerant understory tree through the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ farm-to-yard tree sale! You can also sign up to volunteer with us or donate a tree for us to plant. We accept and appreciate financial donations from Nashville residents and groups, which go towards fulfilling our mission to promote, preserve, protect, and plant Nashville’s canopy.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our email newsletter for regular updates on our activities and useful tree information, and check out the NTCC Linktree page for more ways to connect!