Cognitive Dissonance

We have a wooded backyard and a traditional front yard with lawn and landscaped beds. For the longest time, I carefully trimmed and maintained burning bush in front of our house and along one side (eight plants in all). I did this even as I removed burning bush in the back. I was thinking of the two areas differently and independent of each other. I felt that the wild and wooded area in back should host only local and naturally occurring species. In the front, I was willing to host more cultivated and cosmopolitan species. I went along like this for 15 years. Carefully trimming and tolerating the burning bush in the front beds but removing it whenever it popped up in the back. Eventually, I became tired of this silliness and replaced it in front with thuja occidentalis, oak leaf hydrangea, and bottlebrush buckeye. It makes no sense adding to a problem in the front that I'm trying to subtract from in the back. The new plantings in front better complement the assisted regeneration I'm working on in back.

     

This in no way means we're in a hurry to remove the other non-native species planted in our front beds. Only that we're choosing our battles carefully. If anything, we're focused on filling the beds in front and limiting the need for so much mulch.

Publicado el agosto 10, 2023 03:27 TARDE por stockslager