Status Updates From The Accidental Garden

‘All those millennia of the plants’ settling in & adjusting to local soils, negotiating with their neighbours, holding their ground—In a time of great environmental instability, maybe we need to adopt a more generous & inclusive idea of nativeness, a more welcoming attitude towards newcomers. Our long-term inhabitants are being shifted by climate change—sometimes destroyed by the diseases proliferating in its wake.’

‘Turkey oaks are hardy, resilient—host to a fair number of—insects & fungi—They could be a small bulwark against—ravages of climate change. There are other immigrant trees—native of eastern Europe & central Asia—Where does a plant—belong? Beyond their transportation by humans, plants have always been autonomous wanderers—carried by ocean currents—migrating birds—by changes in the climate—a feeling of shared haunts.’

‘Ash trees—flowers—sheaves—purple filaments—resemble miniature sea anemones—male, female or hermaphrodite—trees tend towards one or the other. Only females & hermaphrodites produce—winged seed. Alas, all our trees seem to be resolutely male—If there is a disease resistant tree among them, it will be the last of its line. Seeing nature as a commodity—seems to me, to diminish it. ‘Calm’ : an uncommon state in nature—’

‘—environmental destruction—our disrespect for life. What consoles me: postcards—of the gingko—ancient trees—evolved through—climate shocks—200 million years on the planet—symbols of the immeasurable destruction—& of nature’s resilience—survivors—defiance against—entropy—I don’t see them as ‘my’ trees—I admire—grateful to be a witness of their autonomous lives. I don’t so much look after them as look out for them.’

Well, the guy sure knows the names of a lot of plants.

“I think I see survivors–the ginkos, the arching beeches, the indomitable bush cricket–as biological anthems (from the Greek root antiphon, meaning response), songs of defiance against the forces of entropy. I don’t believe that rejoicing in them implies complacency or denial. They are arousers, both in themselves and of our spirits.”