My garden is an old, established and fancifully exotic collaboration. I have decided to manage and nurture what is already here, despite my 'nativist' leanings. This garden landscape has been like this for decades, has high biodiversity and is home to many creatures. I have to keep asking myself 'what does native mean in a landscape that has been shaped and molded by human civilizations for centuries'? The entire landscape that we drive through and which I think is scenic, is actually ancient cultivated land, not wilderness at all.
What I hope to do, once I have the old, neglected garden neatened around the edges, is try to incorporate and allow native meadow plants to reestablish on the far bank of our property that doesn't get mowed. Right now, it's a mix of briars and climbing roses, almost impenetrable. That is, if I can uncover what is truly native ...
As I probe deeper and deeper into the mass of vegetation, I'm finding there are many plants sheltered behind and beneath that appear to have been out shaded and overshadowed, forlorn and forgotten. I've been very busy having fun hacking my way through undergrowth and discovering hidden treasures. I've found where the mint is growing in our yard, so all we have to do now is slaughter a sheep and we'll be all set for Dale's favorite dish, roast lamb with my mint sauce. I don't think he should have let that lamb go after he freed it last week.
There's a quaint mix of ancient landscapes and modern features everywhere in this land. The old has remained, and the new just finds a way around its edges.
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