AS cities expand, they desperately need greening to save them from being concrete jungles. But what kind of greening should it be? Decades of growing just about anything, often merely because it looks good or has been passed down over the years, has resulted in costly ecological confusions. Why should plants and trees that need a lot of water be growing in an arid zone, for instance?
With climate change now more visible than ever and the environmental footprint of a city cause for concern, it has become common to talk of planting native species that suit local conditions. . .