Layered Habitat with Keystone Native Trees & Shrubs

In a stone bridge or archway the keystone is the critical stone that keeps the bridge connected. It provides the strength and balance; without it the arch will crumble and fall. 

Fall Plant Sale Closed

Thank you for your orders, and come back in the spring for native perennials!

Pick-up October 8th-10th at Haskins Preserve in Westport

Keystone Plant Species play exactly the same critical role in our food webs. “If you build landscapes without keystone species, the food web is doomed” says Dr. Doug Tallamy.     

The keystone species are “Powerhouse Plants” that support the largest numbers of caterpillars (lepidoptera) from moths and butterflies, as well as other insects. Insect populations are important to the well-being of birds and other wildlife, but also to humans continued existence on earth. If we don’t supply the plants that insects need, the whole food web comes apart.  

This is why Aspetuck Land Trust is selling as many keystone species as we could find from our local growers. “Adding that oak to your yard is one of the best things you can do...providing food for over 500 species of moths and butterflies alone” says Dr. Tallamy.

Native Trees Booklet

Plants by Layer

Layer Kit A

Layer Kit B

Layer Kit C

Layer Kit D

Taking that oak and then planting the layers that naturally occur underneath it is the best way to improve biodiversity in your yard.  Look to nature for the model and copy that.  Putting in those keystone trees and then adding forest inspired layers. “Each Layer in a forest has a particular ecological function, Landscape designs should begin with keystone species like oaks, cherries, willows, birches, and poplars. Once those are in place, more layered plants can be added to create a 3D mini forest that bustles with life” Says Heather McCargo of the Wild Seed Project. 

So, let’s have some fun and get the layers in our yard and hold them together with the Keystone species. Onions have layers, cakes have layers, (Ogre’s have layers, sorry I had to say that, Shrek fan...) and now you can have layers in your landscape!