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| Penstemon calycosus in the GOBN |
...and the other invasive plants in my garden.
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| If I didn't fight it the vincas would overrun the GOBN |
I really do. I haven't been able to get rid of it. I've tried, but, it's even more tap-rooted to this garden than I am. Even if I hired a crew to work sunup to sundown on eradication they would never finish. Removing invasives in this garden is like painting a really long bridge, just as you finish it's time to start all over again.
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| Luckily for me, previous owners did not pesticide away the wildflowers |
I have a theory that way back when this neighborhood was first established home owners tried hard to grow the perfect 1950s green grass. When they realized that the shallow soil meant no lawn would ever grow they all planted Vinca major and Vinca minor to create a swath of green. At the time it was the perfect marriage of evergreen foliage for the lawn enthusiast and pretty blue flower for the flower enthusiast. That was 50 years before conservation biologists talked about invasive exotics in Middle Tennessee. Back then gardeners still believed that many of the wildflowers that we all find charming were weeds and pesticided (an active and destructive verb) them out of their lawns and understory.
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| Plant clover and you'll get lucky~bees and four-leaved clovers |
Way back when, and I mean, way, way back when, gardeners were encouraged to use all manner of exotics to tame erosion. There was little, if any, thought to long term consequences. That's how we got stuck with Kudzu and countless other 'useful and pretty plants and critters'.
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| April in the Garden of Benign Neglect. The purple teteur lives peacefully with the vinca! |
The vincas and I have reached detente in the back garden. There aren't enough resources at Clay and Limestone to wage a full out war! It's an impossible mission. Instead, I've drawn a boundary and they cannot cross over. Of course, I must patrol the area, but, I can live with that for now...But, you know, I still feel bad about my vinca and other invasives.
xxoo
Gail
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at
Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
