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S'està carregant… Interwoven Wild: An Ecologist Loose in the Gardende Don Gayton
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Interwoven Wild: An Ecologist Loose In the Garden begins with an intimate look at Don Gayton in his BC garden with his dog Spud. Striking a series of premises - the first one being that gardening is essentially an irrational act - he logically and humorously begins to unravel the work and rituals of gardening. Engaging the reader with real gardening experiences, Gayton takes us on the microscopic steps of a gardening season and his interest in ecological succession. While commenting on the inter-reliance of species, types of soil, why weeds invade, how foreign planets appear, insects, disease and frost, he also speculates on gardeners -- their needs to landscape, to purchase specialized tools, to use chemicals, to emotionally bond with trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables. The "back story" of Interwoven Wild is much more universal. In it Gayton uses his experiences as a working field ecologist to place the garden in the larger context of our present natural world. By interlocking artists such as Monet and Caravaggio; writers such as Walt Whitman, Thoreau, Emily Dickenson, and Ann Dowden; park designer Frederick Law Olmstead, and landscape architect Christopher Alexander, Gayton reminds us that the garden has long held sway in the creative consciousness. His brief excursions into history, whether tracing the apple back to Kazakhstan, explaining how the tulip made its way from Turkey to Holland, or how the industrialist Baylock's introduction of a smuggled Asian cherry tree destroyed the BC cherry orchids fascinate as well as instruct. For Gayton, the garden is a primordial human urge -- a gift, celebration, and revelation buried in human psyche, marked in our collective mythologies --a kind of magical glue binding world culture, science and economics. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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 Google Books — S'està carregant…GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)577.554Natural sciences and mathematics Life Sciences, Biology Ecology Difference between plants and animalsLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana: (4.5)
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Of all the possible definitions of a garden, I like Don Gayton’s best: “A garden is a gift, a celebration and a revelation.” Gayton’s idea applies equally well to his own efforts, as an ecologist landscaping his suburban yard, as to the more political and activist agenda of guerrilla gardener David Tracey. Both use their trowels to cultivate broad connections – Gayton’s to the ecology of the land, Tracey’s to the social ecology of community – and both have written deeply wise books. There’s plenty of fertile, nurturing mulch in these two works – and loads of sly, humble humour.
“Have you ever been walking down some gray and dreary street, feeling gray and dreary yourself, when you spotted a flower growing out of the pavement and it changed your whole day? Me neither,” writes David Tracey in Guerrilla Gardening, setting the tone for his “manualfesto” (equal parts manifesto and manual) on gardening in public spaces with or without permission.
There’s a rogue attraction to such guerrilla action, but Tracey makes a convincing appeal to instincts that go well beyond the simply subversive. He argues that guerrilla gardening is all about taking an active role in preserving and improving our shared environment; planting a tomato in an abandoned lot may be a small local gesture, but it has profound connections to questions of responsibility and choice. Who decides what our communities look like and how they function? Every one of us, so grab a trowel.
Even the most hesitant guerrilla will find the many wise nuggets in this book inspiring. Some of the most useful include: cities are alive; wilderness is within; growing things is easy; miracles happen all the time; think like a plant; design for diversity; and, finally, get up and grow.
Instead of penning a political call-to-action or how-to manual, Gayton in Interwoven Wild approaches the garden with an ecologist’s eye, describing his garden beds as “microecosystems in training.” Building from his own experiences on his 12-metre by 30.5-metre suburban yard in BC, Gayton explores key ecological concepts – everything from the microbial life of soil to climate change and wildlife – and their relationships to the garden. His essays mix philosophical rigour (what is the garden but a “split Eden,” part cultivated, part wild?) with down-to-earth musings (”The ideal gardening personality is probably a mix of hippie, planner, and military strategist.”)
If the garden is a gift, celebration and revelation, so too are these two books. Read them and grow.
Reviewed by Lorraine Johnson
Reprinted with Permission from Alternatives Journal (