RE: The Evolution of a Gardener

---

I've had a slowly growing awareness of three themes in gardening here:

   1.  The importance of using native plants in gardens;

   2.  The scarcity of water and its wise use; and

 3.  The environmental impact of our gardening practices in the world at large.

Hullo Ben and everyone

Yes water is indeed uppermost in my mind at the moment. The problem is that the temperature hasn’t got above freezing for over a week and I have given up and turned the pump off. Although it is tucked up with its own little heater under a blanket of bubble film,  there is no water for it to pump.  The bad news is that the house is served by this same pump as the nursery. Under the circumstances a “siege-mentality” clicks in as second nature both for myself and the plants.

As far as the plants are concerned, the Mediterranean ones are kept pretty dry throughout the English winter which mitigates damage, the problem are those species in pots which  have long roots and are used to sourcing their water from below the frozen surface layer. We try and keep these in a tunnel that is maintained just above freezing, and water them with a watering can. We fill up black dustbins with water at the beginning of winter more to act as a heat store rather than as a source of water and keep these in the “warm” tunnel,  however these are literally a life-saver during the current exceptional weather. Otherwise it’s just a matter of bashing the ice on the rain butts with a sledge hammer and thawing out buckets by the domestic radiators. My customers whose knowledge of Mediterranean plants is limited to flying off to the seaside during the summer are frequently amazed at the resilience of many of the plants we grow, but I think this year really will test their survival properties.

Replacing sprinklers with drip seems an obvious strategy. Most grey-leaved plants, lavenders in particular, detest being sprinkled and the resulting build up of  diseases. However we continue to sprinkle as I have yet to find a drip system which doesn’t get clogged by the lime in our water.

 Anthony (besieged in England)

The second issue is water conservation: there's not that much water, and there's likely to be less in the future.  I have slowly been replacing conventional sprinklers with more efficient MPRs, but still my irrigation system probably loses a lot of water.

We are called upon to preserve the health and beauty of our environment, our earth.  Although this can't happen overnight, the gradual introduction of native plants, and the gradual replacement of sprinklers with drip, could both do much to improve the health of our environment.

Anyone having similar thoughts and experiences?  What is the view like from Europe or Australia?

Thanks!

-Ben Armentrout-Wiswall

Simi Valley, Ventura County

inland southern California