Read the piece in Garden Rant, then come back here and argue with me: 1. I do not believe in 100% native plant gardens because Im trying to re-establish some pre-colonial virginity. That can never happen. 2. I see so few native plants in ANY landscape, commercial or residential, that I know theres a crisis of imagination and connection to local environment. 3. I see so few native plants in local and big box nurseries that I know .... 4. Without native plants we dont know our home ground, we arent nearly as connected to place, and we wont see nearly the wildlife and support nearly the same number. Its called co-evolution. A sulphur doesnt lay eggs on hosta. Also, if you live in Arizona you cant have a cottage garden; if you want a cottage garden move to the PNW or the Northeast. 5. We MUST get away from a purely aesthetic value judgement of gardens. Often, we CAN have our cake and eat it too, but we need to accept and understand the benefit of plants going dormant, of a messy winter garden, of native grass lawns that dont green up in April, et cetera. Right now bee larvae are resting in the hollow stems of my unkempt joe pye weed, which also has birds perched atop it. 6. We need to stop gardening solely for ourselves and see the incredible, beautiful, soul-magnifying existence that happens when we open up our gardens to the rest of the local environment by using native plants. We believe in giving to the needy and poor of our own species, and to other causes near our hearts, why not the birds, insect pollinators, amphibians right out back in the gardens we supposedly cherish so much? Again, if monarchs are on the brink, what ELSE is on the brink? Planting an exotic plant is almost always a space waster. gardenrant/2013/11/evil-frivolous-gardener.html
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 15:44:40 +0000
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