Report From An Opinionated Gardener – March 9
For different folks. To each his own. Or, perhaps, as Paul Simon put it: “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.”
I was thinking about all of these phrases as I left the garden club where I spoke this afternoon. My talk was The Wow Factor, a presentation that explains why some gardens and landscapes cause us to exclaim, “Wow!” while others elicit a “Nice enough.”
After showing images of some wow gardens and other ho-hum landscapes, it was interesting to hear the comments from attendees. Some were inspired, others appreciative, and one person commented, “Those gardens you showed…I think they must take a lot of weeding.”
My answer to the latter comment was honest. “All gardens take weeding and the bigger the garden, the more weeds you’ll pull.” I appreciated her comment because it reminded me that everyone looks for something different in their yards and gardens, and there is no one way to design or plant a landscape.
The problem is this: secretly, each of us is convinced that we’re right. If we truly accepted the notion that there are different strokes for different folks, we wouldn’t have to ask about more weeding or less weeding. We’d just accept that some choose to tend a Wow! garden, with the weeding that this entails, while others choose a more modest and lower maintenance landscape.
The world would be a more peaceful place if we could fully, totally, completely embrace these words: To each his/her own.
You might choose the large garden that needs copious weeding, clipping and tending...
or you might prefer to plant up a pot or two of annuals and call your landscape finished. Different strokes, right?
