Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 8:37:10 GMT 1
There now follows some very loosely-connected thoughts, observations and commentary about gardens. The older generation may be able to relate, "connect", with some of them.... The younger generation will wonder why I just don't go away, lie down in a corner, and quietly die.....
In the 60's Garden Centres weren't invented. If you wanted plants you'd go to a nurseryman, who'd supply you with a narrow range of hardy plants for pennies... Hedges, before the option of panel fences was available, would invariably be of privet (ligustrum vulgaris) and you'd buy'em 3' tall, and wait a few years until they made 6'.... You'd trim them with hand shears, because power tools weren't available.....
Now, panel fences are everywhere. Toxic (they're treated with arsenic) they're sterile, and birds don't nest in them....
Except in France, where panel fences don't (yet) seem to have caught on. In towns and villages concrete fencing is preferred (built to last a lifetime) or for newbuild "pavillons" native hedging plants dot the boundaries, pretty much as they used to do in the UK...
Slowly Garden Centres are emerging in France. Gone are going the days when a garden was something fundamental to human existence. When it was more about growing food than a place for leisure. A garden is now something on which you can spend your money and receive instant gratification. Buy on-line and moan when you don't receive it Next Day....
Smashing into hedges are sparrowhawks pursuing roosting birds. Hedges you planted a couple of years ago are finally established and going for it... The veg plot is producing... Big Time. It's meant to be. What bliss is this....
