A garden happens when a gardener appears and makes decisions about what goes where.
A garden is the meeting place of nature and culture. Any decision the gardener makes will affect some plant or creature within the garden – quite a responsibility for the gardener! If they are attuned and sensitive, the gardener will anticipate the unique qualities of the garden, adding to the ambiance and enhancing the sense of place. Gardening is an art which also evolves, but one thing remains constant: it is rewarding and forgiving from day one. Nothing repays like gardening, put a little in, get a whole lot back!
The lawn in the garden remains a lawn because it is cut 15 times a year. If it was not cut it would move a step closer to evolving and ‘tumbling down to woodland’. And depending on which part of the world the garden is in, will also depend on the intricacies of the lawn, the plants in the borders and the trees which make up the framework. One of the decisions a gardener makes today is whether to put in some of the marvelous spectrum of exotic and ornamental plants available from various parts of the world. These are generally less useful plants ecologically, but higher on beauty and visual appeal. Or is it better to use only native plants? Or would that be a garden of weeds? Maybe weeds are better for creatures and habitat? That said, we have to ask: is it our responsibility to provide ecological habitat in our gardens?
