Concern for us collectors(Please Read)/ Conie

Hello Connie,
    I suppose it is a good thing that I am not particularly proficient at
typing... would boar all of you to death on this subject.
    At my last slide presentation and lecture for a Master Gardener festival over
in Kentucky I gave a talk on native and non-native for the shade garden. They both
received about equal billing.... anyway. During my opening I talked about native,
or non-native, you still have to do your homework and know your plants. Just
because it is native does not mean it is immortal or well behaved. A lady in the
audience who is director of a State agency promoting natives got up and left.
    No offence meant here, but the newly converted to native plants very much
remind me of the newly converted to religion or the "saved" population. I know
they have found something new, something wonderful and they are happy in the
revelation. But they get where they absolutely can no longer see that perhaps
there are other answers and those who have not "seen the light", never the less,
remain quit happy in their own beliefs. Perhaps just as "right".
    Enthusiasm can, and does,  mask ignorance. Patience, Connie. It is another big
step to go from "believer" to "knower" and that is were knowledge comes in and you
can be there.
    No answers here, but I have always been curious about science fiction writing,
religion, and many philosophers relating to the human begin as somehow "bad" or
"trash" or "evil"; apart from the world we live in. Perhaps due to an inadequacy
on their part to become a true part of the world they live in, or somehow they do
not feel the "connection"? I don't know.
    All live is mobile and in constant change. Man has been sowing seeds all over
the world since he first placed a few seeds into his bag to munch on later and
then lost as he traveled... or passed through him the next morning. The genie has
long been out of the bottle and there is no putting it back in. instead of doing a
fundamentalist heel-diggin-in, we need to recognize and learn to truly live in the
world we have... not the one we thing once was.
    Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
          around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com
From: connie hoy <coneh@USWEST.NET>
Subject: [SG] Concern for us collectors(Please Read)


> Hello to you Gene.
> Have hoped that you would reply to this post and now will thank you for
> your that response..
> As  always you  bring common sense,clarity,,rational thinking to the
> table,calming the waters with your insight.
> Your words both reassure and worry me at the same time.
>
> I have spent many hours researching this subject since that original
> post,and in so doing have noted that in many areas there are people
> /groups/organizations participating in this, that seemingly have limited
> knowledge of this vast subject..Some admitting that they are "guessing"
> 'speculating'if a plant is 'invasive'(alien plants of course)....
> Those that reveal that they are less than expert(and ask for feed back
> by others)worry me less than those who list questionable plants with no
> mention as to their reasoning or lack of experience.
> But the more I read the more I am convinced that Gov.has made more
> disasterous choices than any other single source..
> Once more we are at the mercy of bureauracy whose blunders we must
> endure.
>
> One more subject:
> I am perplexed as to why  the human race must always be left out of the
> equation  where ecology is concerned; its as if we are not here at all
> and/or that all we do is bad for the planet.....Are we not part of the
> chain of life? Have we not evolved along with other life forms..(Yes,I
> am aware of all the damage we have done as well)
> I recognize that we are 'in charge'so its a fore- gone conclusion that
> we are part of the equation but something is amiss here that is very
> difficult to define.I.E.Everyone complains about Hawaii,(just one
> example of course) that it is  losing it native plants due to human
> activity,etc.
> But  my understanding is that since it was a barren volcanic island to
> start with, it only had what washed up on its shores..
> And as various  plants came over the millenia, many did not evolve
> compatibly and so became extinct..(all this without any intervention of
> mankind)..Humans have such a short frame of reference,if we check the
> history of those animals and plants who we know of as extinct ,saber
> tooth lions,dinasours,etc.it seems apparent that evolution will take its
> toll and we certainly had nothing to do it ...
> Much of the 'good'things on the Islands( i.e.Papayas,pineapple etc)were
> brought in yes,by humans from various islands and later from points
> around the world.To every new island the Polynesian peopled, they
> carried the Taro root and several others planting ,were they not
> interfering with an existing 'native habitat'?..
> Every one expresses concern that the planet is becoming botanically
> homogeneous,but are we not increasingly homegeous as a people as well
> ,and as such some will  out number those who were previously dominate
> ...
> Is that 'un-natural'?Perhaps we should all go back to our points of
> origin?Realistic?NOT!
> Evolution is speeding up to an albeit, here to for ,un-natural rate due
> to travel etc.but to assume that is all negative is in my opinion not
> all together true. Safeguards?you bet but lets not go over the deep end
> here.
> As the old saying goes:' the only thing for certain is change'.....
> Last but not least I certainly agree this is a high politicized subject
> and it appears that it can be lucrative for the 'right'parties.
> Thanks for letting me have my say.
> I wish you well.
> Connie
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