Re: George Ball's NYT op-ed article

**"Tom Ogren" t*@earthlink.net**

re: "> I ask again: Who are these native plants bullies George is so worried
about?
> Who is threatening gardeners' rights to plant non-natives? Name some
names."

      I don't want to "name some names," (no point in making enemies of
friends) but I have run into a good number of these native bullies. I heard
one speaker tell the audience that he was planting poison ivy in his own
yard, since it was a native Ohio species. To my surprise, I heard no one in
that very large audience who thought as I did, that this was a really dumb
idea.
  Not far from here is a major California native nursery and the owner
almost foams at the mouth at the mere mention of "junk" such as day lilies,
petunias, begonias, you name it...anything not a Ca. native.
  I'm a fan of using natives whenever possible as they have a lot going for
them, but still, I don't want to use only natives by any means. I see that
George Ball's speech, which I didn't hear but would have liked to, at least
part of it anyhow, was reprinted in the New York Times last Sunday. That in
itself is huge...marvelous vast exposure. The Times no doubt likes his
combinative tone. A week ago the NY Times printed a large review of a
(supposedly radical) book by the historian/sociologist Ted Steinberg, about
how terrible lawns are. That book, much (new) to do about nothing in my
humble opinion, that book is also getting a huge number of well-placed
reviews and ought to sell well because of it.
Tom Ogren
www.allergyfree-gardening.com


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