[Critique Group 1] Pieces due today and Leonard's sub below

[tuchyner5 at aol.com]

Hi group1,Today pieces  are due. I haven't heard from anyone today, so if you sent it in. I haven't received it.------1,224: workd count

Garden Melee



A garden is peaceful. A place to meditate, relax, flex yourmuscles and all that rot. Yes, you read me right, the word is rot, balderdashand a big lie.



How can that be? If you have a time camera it will tell thestory. The story it tells is of a very slow-moving battleground of competition.Each species of plant vying for the best soil, the most sunlight, the mostprotected spots, etc. Some plants are outright monsters who want to dominate.



Luckily, each species has its preferences, and does wellunder different environmental situations.  They don’t all want the same things, andcannot dominate under all circumstances. So, the conflicts tend to give theimpression of peacefulness. But if you are trying to contain a weed, or preventone plant from dominating another, you know what I’m talking about.  It’s a balance of power in most naturalcircumstances, but a garden is not a natural place. 



That may seem to be a strange statement to make about agarden, but unless you are a master gardener and know how to plant species thatare natural collaborators with each other, and otherwise create a naturalbalance, you have to impose your will by weeding and other tasks which are notexactly the way nature intended life to work.



But we want our gardens to be beautiful according to ourstandards, and we will go through great pains to see that things go our way.



Take forsythia as an example.  The front of my property has a straight lineof forsythias, which I started from two small plants.  I also started several other plants at aboutthe same time, with a distinct order in mind. Within 3 years, I knew there was a problem. If I wanted to have other plantsto complete the landscape in the area that the forsythia bordered, I would haveto cut the forsythia back.  The roots ofthat plant were encroaching on the other smaller bushes and plants in the plotof ground. That meant digging out the roots, which was back-breaking and took along time.  On the other, house side, ofthe devil bush were juniper, which were only knee high at best.  It took years, but they were eventuallyovercome by the forsythia.  You see,forsythia grows tall and wide.   I tried keepingit down in height by trimming its branches which are tall and gracefullywillowy, but it wasn’t enough to keep it low as far as I needed to save thejuniper from sun starvation. Gradually, I watch the rug’s demise.



Juniper is basically a peaceful plant and only grows to acertain size. It keeps the weeds under control, but the shorter variety isn’ttall enough to compete with something like forsythia. 



Unfortunately, that devil plant killed two redbud saplingsby attacking them underground and blocking the sun. They had been doing verywell, until the forsythia strangled and suffocated them. One redbud tree, whichhad been the runt of the litter, still stands in a protected part of the yard.It has grown magnificently in its little patch of sunlight. Redbuds are verypeaceful plants.  When a place becomeshostile, they grow elsewhere.



Japanese lantern trees, now succeeding where the redbudsperished, survive by being agile.  Theygrow by following the sun. They bend quickly and develop the most delightfulshapes in doing so. They also seem not to mind other plants.  A dead one still stands in my yard because ofits interesting shape. I think it is beautiful. Another strategy is to growlots of quick-growing saplings from its seed pods.



 One plant which isabsolutely indestructible is the common, humble but beautiful daffodil.  You cannot get rid of daffodils. The onlything you can do is thin them out when their blooms get small. But if you tryto divest yourself of the bulbs, you are bound to miss a few. They will simply reproducefrom what is left often, and before long you will have new stands as delightfullooking as ever. You can mow down the leaves when you want to, but they willcome back up. 



As far as I know, tulips get along with most, if not all, oftheir neighbors. At least that is true in Central Virginia where I reside.  However, beware the voles and moles, who loveto dine on them and will wipe them out. 



If you are looking for a thick hedge with hardiness thatwill equal that of any plant, you can do no better than to purchase privet.Actually, you don’t have to purchase it. It is easy to get volunteers. But Iwarn you, once it is on your property, you’ll never get rid of it.  If you are full of energy and don’t mindspending your time containing it about at the five-foot level, it can be keptfrom spreading beyond your ambitions for the privet.  You can’t cut it too low. Privet will onlyget bushier.  If you neglect to trim itat least three times a year, it will grow to over 10 feet. The plant willbecome a small tree.  This bush will nottry to injure its neighbors, unless you consider running them over damaging.Also, it seldom, if ever, dies.  You’vegot a border for life. So, think twice before inviting a privet to yourhome.  I have two long hedge rows, andI’m quite happy with them but then, I’m over eighty and no longer trim themmyself.



The last species I want to talk about is bamboo. There aresome bamboo varieties that stay contained, but beware the ones that donot.  They’ll grow up to 30 feet tall,and once they get a foothold, they   willtake over everything.  Their rhizomes arethick and tough and mat like a rug.  Theyare almost impossible to clean out by hand. A backhoe is probably your bestchoice.  There is no place safe from the marauder.I even had two growing from the dirt floor in my shed. When they hit the ceiling,they bent to the contours of the inside, until they reached the roof and weregrowing down, seeking a way out.   Noplant can stand against them. Even privet will eventually give ground, untiltheir sky is filled with bamboo, leaving no light for anyone else to grow.  They grow fast and furious.  They pop out everywhere. Run for the hills.No, it won’t matter -- they’ll follow you.



For a long time, I thought I loved them. They weremajestic.  Nothing is so fine as to seethem bending in the breeze. Then I realized that they were tyrants, bound totake everything I had. They have everything they need to take everything youhave.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot. They grow by their rhizomes and byseed. So, beware the wayward wind. 



This account of gardening only deals with some of the plantsthat I try to deal with. I don’t even know their scientific names. I speak onlyfrom experience. But I think you see that when I tell you that a garden is nota peaceful place, you’ll know what I’m talking about.



I’ve got to go now and pull clover out of my garden so I canplant potatoes.



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