Month: November 2017

Quotes

Uphill

…landscapes that incorporate native plants and natural processes will require less time, money and energy for upkeep than designs in which plants are selected and combined for ornamental effect alone. A purely ornamental garden is like a beautiful, sleek automobile with no engine. It may be nice to look at, but the only direction it will go without help is downhill. We will be perpetually required to tow these gardens up the hill with fertilizers, watering hoses and weeding forks.

Larry Weaner–Ten Elements of Natural Design

Poetry

Wonder of the Creator

Beauty in Nature

Theres a poem in every flower,
a sonnet in every tree,
a tale in every lifetime
its just for you to see…

theres a lyric in every brook
as it rushes over rocks,
theres an ode in every nuance,
as loves wonder unlocks,

theres rhythm in every sound,
every beating of a heart,
theres poetry in every union
and every couple who are apart

and just as there is wonder
in every new life created
there is sadness and regret,
for the unsaid and unfeted

just listen for the music
that your ears cannot hear,
just strain yourself for the melody
thats so far and yet so near

the wonder of the creator,
the magic of the divine
is there to feel, for all of us,
to soon be yours and mine

Arti Chopra

Poetry

Learn

Let Us Go Gentle with the Nature

Let us go gentle with the nature
It has given us many
Blessings to be proud of

Learn your Botany, Anatomy,
Geography, Astronomy, etc…
Before it is too late

Regardless of what the nature
Is giving us
A non-wise person will always

Fail to see the good side of it
He or She will only see curse
But let the rest of us go gentle with the nature . . .

http://www.frederickyamusangie.org.uk

 

Quotes

Checks and Balances

Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Thus he undoes the built-in checks and balances by which nature holds the species within bounds.

Rachel Carson–Silent Spring

Poetry

Old Things Go

Autumn Movement

I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper
sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.

The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes,
new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind,
and the old things go, not one lasts.

Carl Sandburg

Quotes

Dense Planting

I think every gardener intuitively knows that, because we gardeners and landscape professionals are inspired by natural plant communities that we may see out on a hike in a natural area, or on vacation. Very rarely do we see bare soil anywhere in natural, wild ecosystems.

I think one of the core principles of the natural world is that plants cover soil. (If you are in a really arid climate, you would have a lot of desert-scape bare-soil landscape.)

I think that the same principle is extremely powerful in a garden setting, and it produces much, much more sustainable landscapes if we meet nature halfway and work around this concept that plants cover soil; that nature abhors a vacuum.

I think that instead of mulching with wood, working with plants like they are designed in evolutionary terms to grow on this planet is beneficial in many, many different ways. It doesn’t only look more inspiring and beautiful to create lush, dense planting that mimics how plants arrange themselves in the wild, it also provides a habitat for some of the beautiful wildlife we so enjoy in our gardens.

And it soaks up the rain. We talk about rain gardens or sponge gardens a lot, and the more biomass we can put into our gardens, the more rain gets absorbed—put back into the ground to recharge the aquifer.

So I think on many different layers, working with this natural principle is beneficial and just so fulfilling and so meaningful for gardeners and designers.

Claudia West

Poetry

A Lively Place

Nature Trail

At the bottom of my garden
There’s a hedgehog and a frog
And a lot of creepy-crawlies
Living underneath a log,
There’s a baby daddy long legs
And an easy-going snail
And a family of woodlice,
All are on my nature trail.

There are caterpillars waiting
For their time to come to fly,
There are worms turning the earth over
As ladybirds fly by,
Birds will visit, cats will visit
But they always chose their time
And I’ve even seen a fox visit
This wild garden of mine.

Squirrels come to nick my nuts
And busy bees come buzzing
And when the night time comes
Sometimes some dragonflies come humming,
My garden mice are very shy
And I’ve seen bats that growl
And in my garden I have seen
A very wise old owl.

My garden is a lively place
There’s always something happening,
There’s this constant search for food
And then there’s all that flowering,
When you have a garden
You will never be alone
And I believe we all deserve
A garden of our own.

Benjamin Zephaniah

Quotes

Imagination

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.

William Blake

Quotes

Rich Diversity

Each region has suites of vegetation that can tolerate the most difficult conditions: drought flood, sand, clay, sun, wind, sterility. Roots penetrate the ground, improving the drainage where the soil is water-logged, increasing water retention where the soil dries too quickly. Leaves convert soil minerals to organic matter—compost the ground, make it looser, richer, moister. Ultimately species that could have thrived in the original harsh conditions begin to grow in the protective shade of this nursery, and gradually a more permanent community replaces the pioneers. … The land will mature, become more productive and rich in its diversity.

This is not true of unnatural plantings. Merely decorative plants merely grow. In time they grow too big, or they die; then someone takes them out and redecorates with others. Nothing else happens. There is no evolution. There is no profit set aside for the future because, for all the money spent, there has been no investment in the land.

Sara Stein–Planting Noah’s Garden

Quotes

Credo

I believe:
Good design matters.
The quality of our environment affects our health and spirit.
Gardens are points of connection, grounding, and continuity.
Well loved spaces amplify living.
Nature should be interpreted, not imitated in designed landscapes.
Planting design should be bold, daring, and uncompromising.
We can reclaim biodiversity and habitats within human landscapes.
A good day ends with dirt under my nails, grass stains on clothes, and dreams of the next garden.

Thomas Rainer