Naturalistic gardens as a recommended solution for the conservation of local biodiversity in degraded areas

The development of the art of garden design has brought about the emergence of naturalistic or ecological gardens. This paper presents a brief historical overview of this period in gardening, and provides examples of contemporary applications. Plants can function as absorbents of metals and therefore there is also the possibility of their practical application in techniques for purifying the environment from metallic contamination. An urgent need to create collections of this unique wild plant material has been stressed. Naturalistic gardens designed in appropriate areas have been proposed as an adequate form of setting up in vivo collections composed of numerous native taxa.