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Loving The One You're With

In eco-sensitive gardens, we sustain ourselves and our world

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BARRY WONG A garden planted to attract wildlife and tended organically can be as pleasing to the human eye as to the creatures that inhabit it, as proven by Noel Angell and Emory Bundy's sumptuous sanctuary garden, designed by Keith Geller.

I WAS A POOR cataloging student in library school, but I retained one lesson I was reminded of again by the hard-working, innovative gardeners you'll meet in this issue. Future catalogers are taught to describe the book they have in hand, not earlier editions, revisions, translations or anything else in the long history of a book. The goal is to study thoroughly what is in front of you and catalog it as it is, which is startlingly difficult. It's more in keeping with human nature to get sidetracked by possibilities, memories, projections or wishful thinking in cataloging a book. Or planning a garden, for that matter.

The lasting lesson: Catalog what you see before you; garden where you are.

That is exactly what the gardeners and designers in this issue did: They dealt realistically with what they had, whether it was an exceptionally steep slope or an overgrown old garden, a wet bog or fallow field. In their own brave and clear-eyed ways, they've created healthy environments for their families as well as the creatures that share our air and soil. Whether the gardens nurture birds, a multitude of flowers or 140 kinds of fruits and vegetables, they are all chemical-free. Each is unique, beautiful and respectful of limited resources. All of these properties are as personal as the gardener's own fingerprints, yet well-suited to diverse and often difficult sites. In the Northwest, we have an abundance of such wet, steep, dry, shady and hot spots.

Which brings us to the current buzzword of "sustainability." I've never quite understood how this applies to gardens. We use plants from around the world, integrate house with garden, use one small city lot to grow herbs, vegetables, trees and flowers, yet expect sustainability? Instead of aiming for a lofty ideal, maybe we should enjoy our gardens, have fun with them, all the while minimizing their impact on the earth's resources. It's not a contradiction to crave a wide variety of plants yet actively promote the garden as safe haven. I read recently that 20 percent of London is given over to gardens. Think of the birds, bees and butterflies using the nature corridors created by so much in-city green, let alone the benefits to the human soul and psyche by living close to nature in one of the densest cities on earth.

A large part of ecologically sensitive gardening success lies in what you don't do, which is a reassuring concept for a busy gardener. Stop killing things, so as not to disrupt connections in a web of life so complex we're clueless about the ramifications of our actions. Leave bugs alone — it's perfectly natural for them to eat plants; in fact, 98 percent of garden insects are beneficial. And stop being so tidy, for in the garden, death is the raw material of life. There's no need to overwater, overfertilize or overcultivate, all practices that prove counterproductive.

While a healthy garden is filled with a wide variety of plants, it's wise to remember the words of Precious Ramotswe, the lady detective "of traditional build" in Alexander McCall Smith's popular series. Mma. Ramotswe isn't a gardener but is passionate about her native land. In the newest book, "In the Company of Cheerful Ladies," she muses, "It was far better to allow native plants to establish themselves. These plants knew the soil of Botswana and could cope with the sun. They knew when it was time to blossom, and when it was time to hide away. They knew how to make the most of every drop of water that came their way."

Perhaps a well-designed, thoughtful garden, with a certain percent of native plants, is the best proof of sustainability. Consider this observation in the May issue of Surface magazine from the South African design firm called Egg. It refers to objects, but applies every bit as much to gardens: "We have a desire to create sustainable pieces, perhaps not in a strictly ecological sense, but in the sense that they are not emotionally disposable and therefore have longevity."

I expect each of the gardens in this issue to have a long and healthy life, both in the ground and in the hearts of their creators.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at barrywongphoto@earthlink.net.