The key to increasing the naturalness of your garden lies in the landscaping. My father was a gardener and I well remember his "sunker", a walk-through garden area with a Japanese flavor that transformed an overgrown, low lying and rather swampy area into a striking showcase of natural beauty. ( continued at
"low lying and rather swampy?"
Sorry you are so bigoted. I enjoy natural swamps. Sometimes better than an artifically created "Japanese" garden that's not within 1000 miles of the actual Japan.
Also, they aren't referred to as "swamps" They are referred to as "wetlands"
Ted
Bigoted????
One other thing, if "swamps" are referred to as "wetlands", why do you enjoy natural "swamps" and not "wetlands"?
IR CornFused again Charlie
Ted's post annoyed me too. I guess low lying equates to elevation challenged and swampy to moist, warm and wet but I digress.
Bill who tries to garden in a Japanese manner. Think Mind.
:-)
I think your mind and my mind sometimes operate on similar wave patterns or sumpthin'! Maybe we're both "Still Crazy After All These Years".
It's often about the music, Charlie, pullin' up CCR........"Born on the Bayou" and off and running on a CCR tour! :-)
Glitter In Their Eyes 3:05 Patti Smith Land (1975-2002) (Disc 1) Alternative & Punk 100 3 8/6/07 9:50 PM
Patti Smith From Pitman NJ. 10 miles from here.
My claim to fame.
Bill
Oooh yeah...... that works.
Good one.
Charlie
Since you didn't use the term "wetland" I made sure to use "swamp" - which was your term - so it would be crystal clear to you what I was talking about.
I see you missed the point entirely.
My point, which I'll explain again, is that a natural area may look "overgrown" but in reality it is functioning as nature intended. Nature doesen't always make up landscapes the way some of us humans want them to look.
If you had said your dad transformed a "choked with non-native invasive weed species, low lying and polluted with fertillizer runoff and sprinkled with used tires swampy area" into a striking showcase of natural beauty, that would have been something entirely different.
You didn't say that, though. But you implied that "Japanese flavor... natural beauty" was preferable to "overgrown swamp". In short, it looks better because someone changed it, because, of course, their idea of changes is superior to what nature had been doing.
Read your words again: "...The key to increasing the naturalness of your garden....garden area with a Japanese flavor..."
If you really wanted to increase the "naturalness" of a garden you would make it as close to a native-species area as possible. That means, it would NOT have a Japanese flavor unless, of course, it was in Japan.
The fact you reacted to my post indicates that your not beyond all hope - you do know there is a truth somewhere in what I said - and it bothered you.
Ted
Well, we don't have before and after pictures, so it is hard to say what made the area less "swampy" after the work was done, or what made it overgrown beforehand.
But in my own garden I always think of a wet area as an opportunity to plant water-loving plants (in my case mostly natives). Well, or to leave it alone, perhaps, if it is in good shape. But here in suburbia, an overgrown area is more often overgrown with invasives (and not very attractive ones, at that) than with anything native (at least, that was the case with our lot when we moved in). Whether you are aiming for some approximation of a habitat restoration, or whether you want a more landscaped look, there are plenty of water-loving plants to choose from.
If your yard has a basin or an area which floods, don't think "problem"; think "opportunity"!
"Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote in news:newscache$mq08pj$7k81$ snipped-for-privacy@news.ipinc.net:
that's untrue. one can easily make a "Japanese style" (or flavor, if you prefer) garden area using only species native to the local area. he didn't say it was a "Japanese garden", he said it was Japanese *style*. one can borrow a style & adapt it to native species very easily. if he wants a garden, he isn't going to make it look like a weed choked swamp, now is he? he's going to clear paths, set beds, plant trees & shrubs for 'backbone'... the Japanese do have a knack for naturalistic gardens, along with the very stylized Zen gardens, you know. lee
Good point. Kind of like the folks that purchase Mopeds and wear black leather jackets with hundreds of shiny studs and fringe, and a black helmet with a big spike up top, and a patch on the back saying "hells angels" ;-)
Ted
Or, think "replace the septic tank"... ;-)
Ted
The message from "Ted Mittelstaedt" contains these words:
More like a Japanese hells angel who eats an apple pie in America and likes it. So s/he decides to take an apple-pie recipe to Japan and cook it at home. It's still apple pie, even when it's eaten with chopsticks.Which country apple pie is made in , is unimportant to the outcome. Apple pie success varies all over the world, according to how good the recipe and ingredients are, and how skillful the maker is.
:-)
Janet (Ace apple pie maker. No studs on my apron)
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