Essays

Wild On The Prairie: Plants

Wild in the Garden
September 19, 1999

“But your flowers attract bees and wasps, and I do not want to get stung.” It is surprising how many times a native plant gardener hears this comment. It seems that some people believe that every insect is just waiting to attack humans, and that all insects are evil and nasty. Why people have such attitudes is a mystery.

Insects and other wildlife that are attracted to a garden can be fascinating as well as beautiful. Watching the behavior of a male hummingbird swooping to impress a female, or watching two male butterflies do a circle battle, or any of the thousands of magical natural happenings is a major part of the enjoyment of gardening. A person connects with the natural world in a myriad of life-affirming ways. Watching wildlife in a garden is a delight.

One’s heart leaps in joyous admiration when watching a hummingbird pluck spider web for its nest, or when a skink slinks out of a rock wall crevice, or a box turtle wrestles a tomato hornworm off its host plant. There is a world of neighbors in the backyard, dozens of life forms living out intricate lives. A gardener participates in a world that is much greater than the constructs of man.

When native plant gardeners get together, the conversation is sometimes enlivened with reports of wildlife. Many such gardeners love butterflies, and have learned the names of many of the species common to our locality. One garden was host to 38 species of butterflies during the course of one evening, and the owner called a dozen people to share in the marvelous sight. Two species never before seen in Midland County made their appearance there that evening and the next morning. Butterfly watching is a celebration of the wonders of the natural world. Walking into a swarm of orange Queen Butterflies around a bed of Blue Mist Eupatorium is like being caressed by fairies.

The rain in June brought baby toads to a number of gardens. On evening strolls, tiny toads danced across garden paths, patrolling for tiny insects. The toads grew from a quarter inch to an inch long in a month as they tended the garden. Yes, tended the garden is correct. Often, critters in the garden are partners. Lizards and turtles lend a hand, although turtles extract rent in the form of a low-hanging berry or two, or ten. Birds tend the garden as well, removing dozens of caterpillars that nibble away and mar the foliage. So do wasps, mashing caterpillars to feed their young.

The benefit brought by wildlife to the garden outweighs the negatives. Sure, flies might make your arm twitch and a mosquito might sneak in for a blood meal, but bug repellent can defeat them. And if a roadrunner comes to harvest the lizard that patrolled the herbs, well, another lizard will come from the next yard to fill the void. Whenever a creature invasion occurs, such as this year’s population explosion of pillbugs, a challenge is offered to the gardener.

Instead of instantly bringing out the heavy artillery, such as a chemical spray, try techniques that will not damage creatures other than the targeted species. Work with the ecology of the yard. Watch carefully – who eats the species that is out of balance? Is there a place the pest seems to congregate, and can it be altered? Is there a way to attract it to the alleyway and away from the garden? Make the experience a time of learning, not a time to declare war. It is the harder way to garden, for sure, but it is a way that honors the natural world.

Native plant gardeners honor their regional ecosystems by growing the most beautiful plants of their area. Honor may seem a strange concept to learn in a garden. Negative attitudes, however, never convey honor. They are limiting and confining. Eventually, a person fears the creatures of the garden. Remember the quote that started this essay? Such a person exhibits the vast ignorance that brings on the fear it illustrates. Honor the creatures of the yard. Celebrate their lives. Marvel at the wonders under your nose and by your toes.

Gardening is a way to enrich your life. Learn the names of the creatures, and learn of the interrelationships that tie the garden together. A garden is much more exciting than anything on television. A gardener is active, both physically and mentally. A television-watcher is a zombie, deadened to life, a dull husk of what a human can be.

A gardener is a builder. Many Midland gardeners have constructed homes for the creatures of their yards. Turtle shelters constructed of bricks, boards, and leaves draw the builder closer to the lives of turtles. A tiny backyard water garden gives a great return to the physical labor of digging a hole. Pay comes in the form of every bird that comes to bathe or drink, and in the frog that slips quickly into the water as you interrupt its defense of the garden. A gardener builds a much richer world.

Yards that are merely a stretch of grass, a hedge along the house, and a shade tree or two are not gardens. Such a landscape is sterile, and hurts the human soul. Gardens provide many of the things that elevate the mundane to the sublime, such as a bouquet for the house that brings the beauty of the natural world close. Gardens extend the house to include outdoor rooms. Gardens make a house a home. Native plant gardens make a person feel at home in the bioregion they inhabit.

“I hate the big red ants – they sting so hard, and the sting aches for hours. I kill them as soon as I see them.” The person who says that should be aware they will also be killing horny toads as soon as they spread the poison. Such people never delight in the sight of a tiny horny toad just emerged from its carefully dug and impeccably camouflaged nesthole. Finding a horny toad the size of a thumbnail is one of the joys of this bioregion, the Llano Estacado. There is not a person in the world that does not ooh and aaah at such a sight.

People often create their own joys and sorrows. Gardeners create joy for themselves a thousand times or more a year.