Perceptions of commercial plants and tree nurseries in the use of native forest tree species for urban landscaping activities in municipalities of Los Baños and Bay, Philippines

Abstract

Urban greening using native forest tree species (NFTs) has been increasingly recognized to achieve more livable, healthier, and resilient cities. However, despite having diverse genetic reserves, full utilization of NFTs in the country has not been fully realized. This restricts the mass production of seedlings for urban greening activities. As such, this study was carried out to determine the perceptions of commercial plants and tree nurseries in the use of NFTs for urban greening in municipalities of Los Baños and Bay, Philippines using the snowball sampling technique of Key Informant Interviews (KII). A total of 32 respondents were interviewed. Out of 85 species of trees identified, 51.16% (Los Baños) and 35.29% (Bay) were native. Most buyers planted their seedlings in private gardens (37.62%), subdivisions (12.38%), and private resorts (11.90%). About 18% of respondents sourced out their propagules from local sellers, followed by purchasing ready-to-plant seedlings from nearby towns (e.g. Talisay, Batangas) (14.11%) and Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve (10.58%). Unfamiliarity (21.69%) with the potential of native species seemingly impedes their popularity as urban trees. Over 23% of respondents believed that native trees help enhance the urban biodiversity and more than 43% have mentioned that buyers used leaves as the basis for species selection. Meanwhile, seedlings of seed origin are the most common (about 35%) mode of seedling production. Finally, the study revealed that Pterocarpus indicus is the topmost common native forest tree species being used for urban greening in the subject municipalities and therefore warranted to be used for further studies.