If the extent of your interest in gardening is the perfect lawn and an immaculately pruned hedge (probably Mock Orange), then this article is probably not for you. That said, I aim for inclusiveness in so bear with me and we’ll see if we can find some common ground, and if not then hopefully some light entertainment.
Human beings are beings of nature, we enjoy interaction with the natural world. Although most humans draw a line between themselves and all the rest of life on earth, the fact remains that biologically and ecologically we are all part of life on earth. We’re inspired and in awe of areas of natural beauty, we enjoy watching other animals, we enjoy growing things, gardening and bushwalking. All these things make us happier, healthier and intrinsically content.
In our gardens, our green dominions, those areas that we can rule over and shape at our whim into a series of monotonous, monospecific, mediocre, (and a legion of other words starting with m) manicured lawns and shrubs. These “gardens” at best require constant intervention of labour, machine and chemical to maintain this level of morose mediocrity and at worst are functionally green deserts.
So, my thoughts naturally ramble in the direction of co-operation and sharing when it comes to the other life forms, we are blessed to share this earth with. We can choose to get a bit wild in the garden, by increasing the range of plants, in both species’ diversity and form.
We can make use of the great range of local native plants, that naturally occur in our area and provide food and resources for local wildlife. This unfortunately means limiting yourself to local native plants of SE QLD and that’s a mere 3500 native plant species…. although some could argue that’s a reasonable palette from which to select!
The wilding of your garden is generous, creative and sharing. It reduces financial and physical inputs over time and the rewards, well they tweet for themselves!
