Too many perennials?

Happy holidays, all.

I've been enjoying the recent thread on whether one can have too many
different perennials. The consensus, I think, was a definite no: the more
the merrier, you can never have too many of those amazing creatures, you
can always find a space for a new one. Like many people with passions, we
all seem to have something of the collector in us. But I think there's more
to it than that: the pleasure that gardeners take in inviting every
possible plant species into their gardens says a lot about them as people.
Call it real multi-cultural practice: everybody's welcome here, we'll find
a home where they can thrive. Maybe that's worth thinking about at this
time of year.

As several people pointed out, half the fun of acquiring new plants is in
experimenting with them. I don't think there's any way around the trial and
error you have to go through to find the perfect plant for the perfect
spot. Every garden has different growing conditions, and every gardener has
different tastes. You can reduce the number of trials by research and
experience, but it still takes years of experimenting to get it halfway
right. I've never met a gardener who has claimed perfection, or who wasn't
infinitely patient and hopeful. Do we learn that from gardening, or did we
embrace gardening because that's the sort of people we are? As virtues go,
I'd say they're among the better ones. Worth cultivating, you might say.

Then there's the big picture: design. Some people might argue that design
is an exercise of control over nature, and they'd rather do as little of
that as possible. But no matter how much or how little you design, isn't it
more like playing with nature than controlling it? And I mean playing WITH
in the sense of cooperating, because if you don't, you lose. Seems to me
that when a gardener creates a happy riot of species and colours, that's
design. Same thing goes for those who believe in using only natives, or
those whose vision is captured in terms like cottage garden, or tropical
garden, or formal garden. Those of us who obsess a bit about colour
schemes, textures, and structural bones are only playing the game in our
own way.

I've always liked the metaphor of the garden room. It's from Gertrude
Jekyll, isn't it? The word room suggests to me that sense of being
comfortably and safely at home, and yet it also suggests hospitality - Come
in, feel at ease, enjoy. I'm looking forward to visiting more of your
different garden rooms.

Best wishes of the season, and particular thanks to Chris Lindsey who
maintains this list with such common sense, tact, and good humour.

Linda in Winnipeg

P.S. To those of you who like garden mazes, let me recommend Carol Shields'
new novel _Larry's Party_. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index