08-17-2014, 06:36 AM
I read this excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's diary, written almost 150 years ago:
August 16, 1856
What a variety of old garden herbs - mints, etc. - are naturalized along an old settled road, like this to Boston which the British travelled! An infinite novelty. All the roadside is the site of an old garden where fragrant herbs have become naturalized, - bergamot, spearmint, elecampane, etc.
I see even the tiger lily, with its bulbs, growing by the roadside far from houses. I think I have found many new plants, and am surprised when I can reckon but one.
A little distance from my ordinary walk and a little variety in the growth or luxuriance will produce this illusion.
By the discovery of one new plant all bounds seem to be infinitely removed.
-Henry Thoreau
It can be a wonderful experience when you find a new plant on a walk, or in a friend's garden.
The albezia trees are not that new plant. They steal the old growth virgin forest from us. They rob the ecosystem of moisture with their extensive lateral roots, and capture nearly all of the light with their giant canopy. It's difficult for most plants to compete with them for the resources necessary to grow. It's nearly a mono-crop. If Monsanto were farming albezia trees there would be protests and council resolutions.
The albezia forest has taken away our sense of wonder. There is nothing new to see there. No discoveries to stumble across when you walk there. Just piles of branches on the ground to trip over.
August 16, 1856
What a variety of old garden herbs - mints, etc. - are naturalized along an old settled road, like this to Boston which the British travelled! An infinite novelty. All the roadside is the site of an old garden where fragrant herbs have become naturalized, - bergamot, spearmint, elecampane, etc.
I see even the tiger lily, with its bulbs, growing by the roadside far from houses. I think I have found many new plants, and am surprised when I can reckon but one.
A little distance from my ordinary walk and a little variety in the growth or luxuriance will produce this illusion.
By the discovery of one new plant all bounds seem to be infinitely removed.
-Henry Thoreau
It can be a wonderful experience when you find a new plant on a walk, or in a friend's garden.
The albezia trees are not that new plant. They steal the old growth virgin forest from us. They rob the ecosystem of moisture with their extensive lateral roots, and capture nearly all of the light with their giant canopy. It's difficult for most plants to compete with them for the resources necessary to grow. It's nearly a mono-crop. If Monsanto were farming albezia trees there would be protests and council resolutions.
The albezia forest has taken away our sense of wonder. There is nothing new to see there. No discoveries to stumble across when you walk there. Just piles of branches on the ground to trip over.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves