“What a garden is, by definition, is a a humanly contrived, artificial construct of plants from all over the world that is usually assembled with little regard for ecological or biological principles. At the same time, this assemblage of plants exists in a world whose entire life force, whose every purpose of being, is driven by universal principles of environmental or ecological balance. …a garden might be thought of as a struggle between a piece of land trying to restore itself to a natural balance and a gardener who hasn’t a clue what that means. Thus begins the eternal battle between the gardener, the garden, and the forces of nature.

…If we work with the laws of nature, we have a much better chance of developing a garden that functions as a balanced, naturalistic system should.

Eric Grissell–Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology