Your garden is just beautiful! And the kindest thing I can say about your neighbor is that she has no vision. Either that or she's jealous This is just one example of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. We won't all see the same things as beautiful, and that's just life. The trick is to be able to see something out of another's eyes. Clearly she isn't one who can do that.
Mart, that's why I mow the backyard. Our barn lot, orchard area, and even the front yard can be done with the riding mower. We planned the front flowerbeds to have "mower friendly" curves. However, I ran amok with the back yard and planted, so I get to mow around the "obstacles". I don't mind--I get to spend more time looking at flowers and bushes and greenery as I slowly mow, back up, mow a bit more, back up . . . .
I like it, it's beautiful ... ya, what does the fellow know!!! Just ignore it and don't waste any energy on that fella comment! Save you calories
Marlin it's kind of like the city folk who move out into the country and then commence to have their yard look like it did when they lived in the city. I love the natural look with grasses, trees, flowers, ect. sharing the same space with no thought of keep up appearances. MY next comment is not intended to insults anyone who has this and lives in the country. You will see folks who buy a couple of acres and then turn it all in LAWN! Then they keep it mowed to perfection. By having such a big area to mow they leave a really big carbon foot print and provide nothing for the wildlife. I have a friend how is always amazed at how many birds we have at our feeders. She also is out in the country but has only a few trees and the rest of the property is all lawn. Go figure. Sorry for my caring on. As I add new plants to my garden I am looking for ones that are native and beneficial to the wildlife. But thats just me. Plus native plants are really good at taking care of themselves. Yippy I am all for that.
I wonder where she got the idea that a rigidly designed garden is the only way to have a beautiful garden? Don't get me wrong, those gardens can look wonderful but can sometimes tend to shove aside the wildlife factor which is very important for a lot of gardeners. I think it has a lot to do with the way people think nowadays - if something doesn't immediately have a wow factor they will shift attention, or worse still belittle it. If your neighbour understood the way you created your garden and how beneficial it is to wildlife then they would feel a wow factor. They didn't so they shifted to belittle mode. No need to worry MG
Tooty, I do know what you mean. I brought so many plants with me when we moved here that there was a rumor going around that we were opening a nursery! Frank, I'm not worried, and I do think you are right. For some folks, it's all "show", and for some of us gardeners, it's all "go." I love my jungle but my husband is getting tired of hearing, "You Tarzan, me Jane." I think it's hilarious!
We love this garden and look forwards to what it may or may not become. The garden bed on the left was made from sundry cinder blocks and bricks I scrounged up from around da hood Peggy said she wanted a kind of divider shadey garden to separate our lil fore pit area from the rest of the yard. We filled it with stuff like partially composted horsey droppings and hey from a friends barn and compost from our pile and some river soil. leveled it off covered it with hey and started sticking stuff in it. We put a few herbs, planted some garlic along the outer edge and a few flowers ornamentals and a couple short bushy trees to eventually come up. This spring an invasive species known as butternut squash sprung up unexpectedly and took over. I guess the seeds were in or compost pile. Some folks woulda pulled it all up we figure if it wants to grow let it. Several things in our yard kinda volunteered over the years and they are always a joy to us. It's fun to let God plant a few things for ya too.
Here is a view of my beloved garden jungle during the last rainy season. This ought to give your neighbor the vapors
I have one of those neighbors too, and they definitely don't get it. He asked me if had any pot growing in there one time. That's okay, I think his yard is boring, to each his own.
This post is a good example of why I am so glad I found this forum. It's full of fun out o'da box garden folks who love the park like natural look. Thats right up our tacky slightly unkept alley.
Oh, lordy I do love you folks! Each and every garden I've seen here is beautiful in its own way, and a joy to its gardeners. Vitrsna, my neighbor doesn't get the vapors, she gives them! Thanks to y'all I am not subject to getting the vapors.
MG...no you wouldn't be subject to getting the vapors. Gardening for wildlife is definitely not for sissies or for the feint of heart. Cajuncappy...I am with you! I have received some of my most treasured plants by growing some of the volunteers that inevitably pop up after the rainy season. I had one volunteer IDd as a Lupine...i was so excited because i never thought of Lupine growing here but Mexico has 2 species that are native. I treated that one little Lupine like royalty...every day i gave little love pats of encouragement. Then after it had a couple of sets of leaves i went out one morning to discover it was eaten all up by a slug (o heart break). But there have been other experiences more successful. After 4 years of tromping through all kinds of terrain looking for a native Aristolochia, i just gave up. Then one day, i was clearing some space in the garden and there it was...in the exact place it would eventually grow to mammoth proportions, one small (first leaves and 1 set of true leaves) volunteer to my garden which could only be a wild, native Aristolochia. When i gently touched the true leaves and then smelled my fingers, by golly it was for sure a beautiful, and stinky wild Aristolochia that grew to host literally thousands of Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars over the next few years.
It's fine just the way it is Jane. You aren't doing it to impress anyone but the birds butterflies and toads.
I WISH I could have a "jungle". We live in the city and I keep telling my honey we need to move. When I have a big yard and a big porch, I will have my very own garden and will love it just as much! Your "jungle" is quite beautiful and I would much prefer to take it as a compliment rather than an insult.
