Noise

Driving to the market, listening to NPR, I learned that today is International Noise Awareness Day. I immediately thought of Owen Dell. He mentioned noise in his lecture at the Native Plant Symposium in Camarillo on February 20th. The Native Plant Symposium was a gathering of outstanding speakers. I'm going to mention Owen Dell in this post, but I'll get to the others later.

Owen Dell specializes in SUSTAINABLE landscaping, a landscape that supports itself. Nothing is hauled away because everything is used. When sustainable landscaping is your goal, you plan what you plant, where you plant, what materials you build with, your water needs etc by asking, "What does it do?" How does it contribute to the community in your garden?

You don't have to be a dummy to understand that CA Native plants have evolved to live here. They like our soil, our temperature and natures water schedule. "No one gardens nature," Owen says. So why do we work so hard creating an artificial environment, when nature is already so beautiful?

I was so impressed with his lecture, I bought his book Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies. It sits beside me as I type this. It has already saved me money and helped me to slow down. My garden will evolve carefully, quietly, eventually.