Roadside landscaping with native plants in the Czech Republic: a review

Abstract

Czech Republic has a unique experience in greening the roadsides. The changes that were implemented in the early 1990s have had also been incorporated into the roadside landscape in recent years making the Czech Republic one of the forerunners in greening the roadsides. Most of the roadside landscaping designs were inspired from western landscapes comprises mostly of exotic species, which do not reconcile with the environmental conditions of the Czech Republic. The intensive use of exotic species in artificial vegetation, high water requirements for the Czech Republic greenery with water shortages are causing major environmental and ecological challenges. Fortunately, the Czech Republic hosts a unique flora and fauna that show remarkable adjustment to harsh weather conditions. Here we emphasize the use of native plants due to their potential to develop roadside landscapes in water shortage conditions, leading to reduced water usage for roadside landscaping. The preservation of native biodiversity of the Czech Republic will be an added benefit. In this article the main aspects of the Czech Republic roadside landscaping efforts, with the associated water resources using native plants in landscaping, problems in promoting native plants contrast to non-native plants in landscaping and possible solutions are discussed.