Whether for simple beauty, environmental preservation, or spiritual connection, native plants are increasingly being used to turn urban luxury condominiums into city oases.
Rooftop gardens, community courtyards, and lobbies accented with greenery have become de rigueur in high-end properties from New York to Los Angeles, a trend that has emphasized the importance of nature as cities grow in density and population.
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"There’s an urban connection-to-nature movement, and residents are demanding this in their environment," said Steven Tupu, founding principal of Terrain, a landscape architecture firm that specializes in ecological design work based in New York. "Developers building new condos know it’s more lucrative to include green spaces and outdoor amenities."
Mr. Tupu said the use of indigenous plants in landscaping design helps to create a connection between residents and the region they live in. In the United States’ northeast, for example, he said plants like Switch Grass, Goldenrod, Maidenhair Fern and Eastern Redbud are popular additions to urban developments.
Since native plants have adapted to the ecosystem of the area, they tend to be drought tolerant, and provide a native habitat for animals like worms and birds in the region, he explained.
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"In New York, we’d use native grass that grows on Long Island, rather than in China," Mr. Tupu said. "There’s a subtlety of seasonal diversity that is native to the area. We’ve got some great coastal grasses and coastal holly forests that we draw inspiration from."
For Newswalk, a luxury condominium in Brooklyn, Terrain designed a rooftop communal garden with hardy evergreens, conifers and river birch among the benches and daybeds, as well as a large open native wildflower meadow that attracts wildlife.
"On roofs and terraces, we use a lot of coastal plants because it’s windy and 8 to 10 degrees hotter in the city than on Long Island," Mr. Tupu said. "If it’s shady and has protection, we’d use a local woodland mix or meadows."
Regulation in some localities require native plantings
The use of native plants is not only a design trend, it has become a regulation for new development in many urban areas.
In Florida, for example, the Miami Dade County Landscape Code requires that 30% of trees and shrubs in all new developments—whether residential, commercial, office, or warehouse—must be native plants.
"Many municipalities throughout the country have native planting requirements written into their codes," said Bill Eager, president of EGS2, a landscape architecture firm that recently designed the outdoor spaces on Prive at Island Estates, a private residential island in Dade County, Florida. "The requirements will only become stricter because water scarcity is a problem everywhere."
Mr. Eager said 78% of the trees and 58% of the shrubs planted on the luxury island development are native to Florida, including Orange Geiger, a tree with bright orange flowers; Seagrape, a tree with large oval multi-colored leaves; Florida Privet, a shrub with fine textured small leaves, and Necklacepod, a shrub with fuzzy light silver-gray leaves.
He said native plants seem more resistant to disease and insects because local conditions are optimum for their growth.
Native plants promote the spiritual space
Beyond practical reasons, Ma Yansong, founder and principal of MAD Architects in Beijing, believes native plants add a spiritual aspect to the design of urban dwellings.
Mr. Ma, who designed the luxury condos at 8600 Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California, said growing up in Beijing taught him the importance of nature in urban areas.
"Beijing was planned with a lake, a mountain, and huge garden, and it’s all artificial," Mr. Ma said. "Still, people there live in the whole spirit of the environment. Today, the environment is talked about from a technical level of energy being saved, but I’m interested in the spirit and emotional space of the environment."
For the Beverly Hills project, scheduled for completion in 2018, Mr. Ma designed condos and townhouses inside a five-story mixed-use residential complex that will sit atop a manmade hilltop, planted with native trees like Shoe String Acacia and Broad-leaved Paperback. A contemplative courtyard will be in the middle of the community with a reflection pool and waterfall that connects to a pedestrian entrance from the street.
The use of native plants is not likely to impact the cost of a development since local greenery is probably grown commercially in the area anyway. Tupu said exotic plants that have to be imported may add to the cost, but using native plants doesn’t necessarily save, either. It just depends on what plants are used.
A "living wall" of native plants and succulents will cover the lower exterior of the building, and vines like Star Jasmine and Bower Vine will grow on a trellis. Seven Chinese Flame Trees will be planted in between the condos, creating a "cloud" of green overhead.
Outdoor spaces, courtyards, front lawns, and backyards will give the community a back-to-nature feel, he added.
"Cities are about the power of the architecture of the buildings, and we’re at the end of the Industrial Revolution," Mr. Ma said. "People are looking for more nature in their environment. We need to make poetic architecture that helps people feel a connection to where they are. The future of architecture is about human emotion and nature."