Why So Many Yards?

Urban sprawl is an issue in cities everywhere. The civic election that will take place in Edmonton today includes issues revolving around urban sprawl, such as redeveloping our city airport into a housing project. (Vote Steve Mandel for Mayor and Kim Cassaday for councillor in Ward 3 if you want the city centre airport redeveloped) Take a walk around the block someday, and pay attention to what people do with their yards. Then ask yourself, “Why do we have yards at all?”

I did just that this Sunday morning, paying attention to mostly just the front yards. My criteria were simple (yet judgmental and harsh): if lawn dominated the garden (75% or more) than I concluded that the front yard was worthless. If the garden had some attempt (at least 25% of the total area) at planted landscaping, then I marked it as being useful. I even marked  front gardens that were dominated by overgrown pine or spruce as useful, because even if often ugly, they at least provide some habitat. My findings will surprise no one: 86% of front yards are worthless. (I did not take back yards into account, as they are often hard to view clearly from back alleys – I believe that most back yards are fairly well used – vegetable gardens, deck and patio space, children’s play areas, dog runs and the inevitable shed to store all the equipment required to look after lawns) So the question arises again: just why do we have front yards? Aesthetics? A resounding no. Food? No. Habitat for wildlife? No. Play area? well…seldom. I only know of one house in our daily walk where children occasionally play in the front garden. So why this wasted space? Why are we wasting land (and our water resources to sustain it) to this extent?

Gambler House expands on the environmental consequences of lawns, and examines a new study that shows the history of one of the reasons we have gardens…and the answer can be stinky…

Visit Why do Americans Have Yards? at Gambler House.

Accentuating Sunbeams

Sunstreams

My wife, noticing how the day was getting hot, turned on the sprinkler so that the garden could run about and cool-down under its watery, glistening goodness.

Late Update

As gardeners we will always find something to complain about. Our cold evenings will be drawing to an end soon but we will now have to face the heat of summer and chance of a facing a real drought. We had used up all our rain barrel wetness weeks ago, and the spring showers we have had so far have hardly filled half a barrel. With all the new planting I have had to resort to the tap, hose and sprinkler a few times which always makes me feel somewhat uneasy–water being the precious resource that it is. The hottest driest part of the garden is in the front, and I have tried to keep most of the planting here fairly drought tolerant. Yet even plants tolerant of dry conditions need water to establish themselves. So we will water, protecting our investment and paying the price for the garden we desire. Hopefully things will be well established should the city ever need to call for water restrictions.

Vinca

‘Helsingborg’ Clematis

Pasque flower

Leopard’s Bane

Ornamental Onion

Trillium

Yellow spurge

Bleeding Heart

And what is flowering in the garden now? Our harbinger of spring, Anemone pulsatilla, is still showing some blooms, but most have gone to seed. Delightful seeds, I might add, that still bring delight to this hardworking ornamental plant. In the front, the Leopards Bane, creeping phlox, yellow spurge and ‘Purple Sensation’ onion are blooming strongly., and in the white corner a patch of white windflower draws the eye. Walking past the small  side house garden we have Vinca minor, violets and a small flowered Japanese  groundcover (whose name eludes me) blooming among the unfurling leaves of hostas. In the sparse soil along the fence, several self-seeded bleeding-hearts (Dicentra spectibilis) are also in full flower. In our bed between the house and garage little blooms yet, except for a small patch of Primula veris, three trilliums and the annuals in the window box. As I enter the back garden proper, the flowering is stronger, with white windflower predominating. At the pond the pink bottle-brush flowers of Persiaria bistorta are visible , the ornamental rhubarb (Rheum palmatum)and the globeflowers are still going strong. Our Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum x hybridum) and lily-of-the-valley are in bloom, as well as the wild false Solomon’s Seal, Smilicina stellata.The apple is almost finished blooming and the pleasant scattering of white petals on the patio are now becoming dried and brown fragments for the broom.

Robin at the Pond

Besides a diversity of planting, one of the best draws of wildlife to the garden is a pond. Especially when the heat of summer is on, the sound of flowing water will attract a steady stream of visitors. I have set up the pond with a variety of perching points as well as a variety of water depths so that even the smallest bird will be able to find bathing or drinking space somewhere. Robins are regulars, and they relish a good bath. When done, they fly up into a sunny spot on the nearby birch or onto the pergola and then puff and preen in the warmth.

An admiring look…

easing in…

off with the robe…

shower commences

drying out

Spring Update (2007)

Draining the pond revealed another problem. The three clumps of the old world Yellow Flag iris (Iris pseudacoris) on the 25 cm deep shelf had become totally basket-bound and their dense roots were so intertwined and matted that I had to cut them apart while standing in the pond. I had to this carefully, so that my shears would not puncture the pond liner. These had not flowered last year so they were due for re-potting, which will leave more than enough divisions to pass on to friends. I will consider replacing them with a less course and rampant type of Iris such the native Blue Flag, Iris versicolor.

After the pond was drained and cleaned we had a few days of rainy weather. When I went out to look later, I was startled to see to see some frantic movement in the rainwater that had collected in the deep zone. On closer inspection I found a wood frog, most likely the sole survivor of the tadpoles that I had introduced to the pond two years ago. We removed him and kept him in a moist leafy container when we refilled the pond so that he would not be harmed by the chlorinated water. Later that day, after the water had been dechlorinated and circulated for a few hours, we reintroduced him to the pond edge, where he he eased himself down into the leaf litter and mulch. It is a pleasant reminder of the day we first built the pond and, as I stood in the bottom placing rocks , a large dragonfly zoomed by and then hovered for a while over the unfilled basin, as if to ask, “What’s taking so long?” It is one of the many small pleasures of gardening with nature – a sort of official sanction, a baptism by creature.