gardens and stream ecology: a case for the exotic plant in new zealand

Debate about the relative merits of native versus exotic flora in the landscape has been occurring in many countries, to the point that one author has suggested native plant enthusiasm has moved from ecological panacea to xenophobia. Much of the key landscape character in Europe is in fact based on non-indigenous flora; for example, the vines, olives and cypress, quintessential to the Tuscan landscape, are all exotic to that region. Because the flora changes are relatively recent and more noticeable in New Zealand, this debate is even more keenly argued here