Re: Garden philosophy

Hi Gay -

Congratulations on your 50th anniversary!  I have long enjoyed hearing of the
garden(s) you and Kees have created over the years and always felt we were
honored to have your presence in Medit-Plants.  Having had cousins in the past
living in New Zealand (some do to this day) I have heard personally of your
wonderful land and always hoped to visit someday.

Re: 'slavish'ness - Just as I know that some people are not meant to have
children, some are really not meant to garden.  Here is the USA, it seems to
be seen as an inalienable right to have an equal amount of land surrounding
your home as all your neighbors, regardless of whether you let it run to weeds
or not.  This creates the ubiquity of landscapes that never meet their
potential!  I am told that home buyer just love to see a landscape already
done when they purchase a house - so they will not have to do it themselves! 
Which leads to the current trend of 'staging' the garden.  A 'landscaper' is
called in and paid goo money to jam into the ground whatever is currently
flowering in a local nursery, regardless of how suitable or how big it may
ultimately grow.  New owners them move in and proceed to ignore the landscape
as much as they can until it becomes a big problem.  Then they go to a nursery
and buy what the nursery tell them to buy (whatever is being pushed by
national wholesale growers that season).  Consequently, you end up seeing a
lot of the same stuff and the same mistakes repeated throughout your
community.

Locally, in spite of this, we seem to have more gardeners/landscapers per
capita than elsewhere!  Many of these folks are very excited about plants,
learning new ones each month, anticipating (and even demanding) the 'newest'
and most unusual new offerings.  I understand this excitement - I've shared in
it much of my life.  But when it comes to making gardens, this can often get
in the way of good, sustainable design.  Again, you see the same 'new' annual
or perennial planted in artful (even shocking) color combinations (the current
vogue) and textural arrangement.  Planting is usually over-planting - more
like a bouquet of flowers than a garden, with different plants all woven
together to show off how well matched they are.  In a year or so, we might
discover that one or more of these plants is virtually a weed, and suddenly
all hearts grow cold towards them and your garden becomes passé unless you
ruthlessly rip it out and replace it with the current favorite.

I'm not really trying to be judgmental or overly critical, just pointing out
the extremes of trends.  ;-)

I've had some gardening friends be non-plussed by my own approach.  Seeing a
very unusual plant that they've never heard of planted amongst another species
that is 'common as dirt' seems to be an impediment that cannot be gotten past,
even though they might be perfectly suited to grow side by side both in habit
and aesthetic character.  A local garden group, the 'Hortisexuals', have a
motto - "No plant is safe".  My own turn on this phrase is that I am totally
egalitarian in my consideration of plants, analyzing their usefulness or
appropriateness to a project on their merit alone, not some sort of arbitrary
'status' they may have with gardeners.  I also consider the appropriateness of
a plant to the garden owners - are the 'compatible', do they 'understand' each
other, do their lifestyles work together!

I enjoy plants, they are a large part of my life.  I know many people in the
world hardly give them a glance, much less scrutinize them in any detail.  As
we adopt a more 'green' mindset worldwide, I am hoping that land will become
more precious in our society's awareness and valuable growing space will be
left to those who have a passionate interest in growing and caring for it.

Regards,
Seán O.

Seán A. O'Hara
sean(at)gimcw.org
www.hortulusaptus.com

> Hello Robin
> Re the slavish follower of fashion.   I guess I was feeling irritated with
> some pros in Hobart who are pretty "slavish" in their landscaping.   The
> latest craze is to plant a row of 3 ft high Michelia *doltstopa *along a
> small front fence of a private home etc etc :=]
> regards gay
>
> On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 6:34 PM, nofsmith@iinet.net.au <nofsmith@iinet.net.au>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> At a recent get together of our local garden group, we were asked to
>> firstly, write down 4 words which describe ourselves and then 4 words which
>> describe our gardens. In almost every instance, the adjectives
>> matched........."show me the garden, show me the man"!    The garden is a
>> place in which we can express our true nature and I really wonder whether
>> any truly committed gardener is a slavish follower of fashion.......?
>>
>> Robin
>> Gingin, Western Australia
>>
>>
>>
>> *On Fri Jul 4 14:38 , "Gay Klok" sent:
>>
>> *
>>
>> Hello everyone
>> I know I have been very remiss in joining in the discussions - But I do
>> read all your interesting letters.   I have been a member of this group
>> since the beginning of its conception but now, having reached my seventies
>> and still creating two gardens [town and country], I am still in awe of the
>> philosophy, knowledge and enthusiasm of amateur gardeners.
>>
>> In the many times trips overseas [yes, including America] I can still be
>> amazed at the individual and varied personality I find while visiting the
>> many gardens I can admire or be surprised by.
>>
>> Of course conditions of the locality come into play, soil, climate etc, but
>> the love and imagination of the garden owner is always to be admired.
>> Global warming is a fact we all must take into our thoughts but I strongly
>> believe that our own personal personality is the over riding characteristic
>> that forms our individual gardens.   I do not like to see a garden that
>> rigidly sticks to the latest "in" thing.   But even I can be astonished by
>> someone - A friend of mine, an artist of harsh brightly abstract paintings,
>> has created a garden of pristine paths in straight lines and plants planted
>> with no thought to colour and marching up the square gardens like marching
>> soldiers.    I was rather lost for words until I saw a clump of Neapolitan
>> Cyclamen nodding their little pink heads.   "Yes" said my friend "Someone
>> gave them to me so I HAD to plant them!"
>>
>> Some rules must be followed - We all plant our trees,  having bought them
>> as dear little 1ft plants, too close together when in 10 years they become
>> huge giants.   I myself am a very greedy garden and should be kept away from
>> nurseries.   I also rescue plants that are pot bound and on their last
>> legs.   They all live and add to my crowding!   Luckily in the country
>> garden we have oodles of space [many acres] so, much to the horror of my
>> long suffering husband, another area is landscaped!
>>
>> Create and grow the flowers you love.   Nature is an amazing thing.   She
>> [?]  will throw a seed or two around in the perfect place and make you
>> wonder "Why didn't I do that?"
>> Regards to all from this ancient gardener, Gay, the far more wrinkled
>> gardener', Klok
>> --
>> Gay Klok Tasmania
>> http://members.tripod.com/~klok/WRINKLY_.HTM<http://members.tripod.com/%7Eklok/WRINKLY_.HTM>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Gay Klok Tasmania
> http://members.tripod.com/~klok/WRINKLY_.HTM
>
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