Summer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Summer Moon<\/p>\n
Weeds.\u00a0 Weeds, by definition, are a plant out of place.\u00a0 This is, if you think about it, a curious definition.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the hardiness and persistence of most weeds indicate that it may be everything else in the garden that is out of place.\u00a0\u00a0 So, we may have to admit that the true definition is anthropocentric one.\u00a0\u00a0 Weeds are plants out of place in the horticultural preserves we call\u00a0 gardens and landscaping.<\/p>\n
An article in the Scientific American got me thinking about this, as did this mornings work removing quack grass and other hardy locals from the clover in our orchard.\u00a0 The Scientific American article has the provocative subtitle:\u00a0 The Real Price of Flowers<\/a>.\u00a0 The underlying message is this:\u00a0 plant what grows where you live.\u00a0 This means you will have much fewer energy inputs than if you maintain out of zone plants.\u00a0 Most experienced gardeners know this, though some pride themselves on their ability to grow out of zone plants.\u00a0 Here the trick is to get them to survive our tough winters.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Zoo, when it began, had a similar zoological mission:\u00a0 contain animals that live in the climate of the 45th latitude.\u00a0 They had (and have) a smaller tropical indoor exhibit that includes Komodo dragons, Gibbons, Tapirs and Toucans, for example, plus a coral reef, but in the main they have native Minnesota animals:\u00a0 moose, wolves, beavers, wall-eye, muskie, pileated woodpeckers.\u00a0 There are also many that thrive in our climate:\u00a0 pumas, wolverines, lynx, otters, fishers, musk ox,\u00a0 Amur tigers, grizzly bears, snow leopards, sea otters.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I say had because it now has a summer African exhibit and I wish it didn’t because I like the original mission.<\/p>\n Permaculture attempts to take this general notion and apply it to our horticultural and agricultural practices.\u00a0 That is, permaculture emphasizes plants that work together, that live in the climate, soil type, eco-system native to the location of the garden or farm.\u00a0 This allows the least outside inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, even tilling and other mechanical techniques.<\/p>\n We need to know more about the plants we call weeds.\u00a0 After all, they live here, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Summer Moon Weeds.\u00a0 Weeds, by definition, are a plant out of place.\u00a0 This is, if you think about it, a curious definition.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the hardiness and persistence of most weeds indicate that it may be everything else in the garden that is out of place.\u00a0\u00a0 So, we may have to admit that … Continue reading Being Native To This Place<\/span>