Recently I pulled out some old books, gardening books by some of my favorite authors. Going as far back as Louise Beebe Wilder and her brilliant prose in the 1930's, to Pamela Harper's book "Designing with Perennials", published in 1991, Henry Mitchell in 1992, or "Elements of Garden Design" by Joe Eck in 1995. These are brilliant publications which grounded me. Even as I revisit the pages, I find the sources for references that built my knowledge. Some of Henry Mitchell's Washington Post articles bookmark a page and I laugh at his masterly use of personal stories and wordsmithing.
The trends were clear, gardening was for beauty. The model for much of this were the large garden borders of Great Britain, layered sweeps of color. It was also the source of most of our gardening books; American garden writers took a while to come into their own. Keeping with the trends I started my nursery. The public wanted colorful flowers, anything new, and long blooming.
That story began more than forty years ago, my nursery closed more than fifteen years ago, and things have changed. The book collection I have now is different. Titles like "A New Garden Ethic" (Benjamin Vogt), "Planting in a Post-Wild-World" (Thomas Rainer and Claudia West), or Doug Tallamy's smart books like "Nature's Best Hope" squeeze next to "Color for your Garden".
Full circle, my profession is still horticulture or grounds maintenance. There is the continuing aspect of beauty and surely the higher learning courses are still formulated around ornament. But something else is happening. Science is infiltrating every aspect of our horticultural world. From the relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, the need for erosion remediation, and research on the decline of birds and animals, one needs only watch the news to see how our climate has changed and believe these changes will and are affecting us.
To follow horticulture in today's world involves understanding how to improve sediment oxidation, or better filter water using plants. The new science is finding that the tiniest connectors are linked to the health of plants from a moss to a giant oak. Soil science is exploding with new research on how to use plants to clean soil of contaminants and understand the relationship between fungi and the insects that inhabit the ground.
The old questions "What will bloom all summer?" are slowly replaced with "how to feed the monarchs", "Which tree provides the most food for migrating birds?", and "How do I increase the health of my soil?". The geeky nerd in me is excited and we need this. The gardeners need to do more than plant pretty flowers because we are the closest link to nature's connections. We see and understand more than most and we can help.
Some simple ways to start;
only use organic fertilizers
look for "peat free" potting soils
plant native plants
let caterpillars eat your plants - they feed the birds
teach your children and grandchildren
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