Chaos Gardening- A new trend?
Or simply the “American” version of an English garden?
I have always hated manicured lawns. I never understood the killing of weeds, especially when so many of them had beautiful flowers. Why must we cut down this tree, if it’s not bothering anyone? Curbside appeal? Who should my yard appeal to? The people in the house or the ones passing by on the curb? And why are you lingering for so long on the curb looking at my yard? Beat it before I call the cops.
I started out life, of course, with my mother, her house her rules. She was a single mom and couldn’t be bothered with landscaping, even if she wanted to. She had three kids and an ever present cat to take care of. Who has time for roses? But in all my books, on all my Channel 9 shows, the English garden prevailed. Mmmm.
Next, I lived in an upstairs apartment. One bedroom. Not much light. They take care of the landscaping and they own other properties. So again, kill it all!
Later, my new husband and I moved into a tiny rental while we saved for a house. We were able to plant impatiens and put down red mulch. Yayyy (sarcasm. So much.)
So imagine my joy when we purchased our first (and hopefully last, but more ramblings about that process later) home. We purchased it from an eclectic professional artist, who had the same thoughts on landscaping as I. Or so I presumed.
You see, the lawn was full of greens and pinks and reds and purples….and invasive species. Yikes.
I am all for the Chaos/english garden philosophy of live and let live, but invasive species do not go by that playbook. Very often they, um, invade and choke out, kill off, and out compete the local flora, which negatively impacts the fauna. No wrecking the local ecosystem for me. Those invasive buggers were a nightmare to get rid of, it took close to a decade.
People often ask me how I plan my garden. I don’t I simply modeled it after an English wildflower garden. If you're native, pretty, and can keep yourself alive, then you’re welcome here, doggone it.
It wasn’t until quite recently that Google suggested an article to me about “chaos gardens”. The article says that they are good for busy people, lazy people, and disabled people. The way to get started is to remove all weeds and jut throw some seeds out there. Leave paths for walkways, and in a couple years you’ll have your chaos garden. I don’t think it’s that simple, especially if you don’t want the city authorities called, but I see what they are getting at. I think I’d prefer the term “back to nature” instead tho.
Anyhoo, this was just my random ramblings on a gardening technique that’s been around literally forever but is currently in the news because every generation has to believe that there is still something new under the sun.