"Native Plants"
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: "Native Plants"
- From: S* W*
- Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 21:34:25 -0400
Someone's suggestion that Lily of the Valley was bad because "not native"
has been rankling me all day, and I just want to briefly spout off (and
will be glad to forget all about it right away). In the first place, I'm a
foreigner myself (wish I'd smell that good...) and to me, praise of the
native has a jingoist ring to it, even though, of course, I fully realize
it's not intended. Second, if I want to see what native Michigan looks
like, I go drive into native Michigan. Awfully boring, by the way, most
horrible landscape I've ever seen. I see no need to reproduce it in my
garden (what, hack down the Japanese Maple I just lovingly and sweatingly
transplanted, send the daffodils back to Spain?), just as I see no need to
read or teach only native authors or decorate my walls with native
paintings (anybody who's seen the horror of the Ann Arbor Art Fair will
know what I'm talking about). Third, I'm sympathetic to those who like
native plants, but to me, gardening is about play and fancy, experiment
(i.e. both failure and triumph), surprise and escape.
No offense.
Cheers,
Silke
