The NY Times has an interesting story about a person who has allowed their property to naturalize. It describes a person who has allowed their property to just grow what is natural, for better or worse. Now I can appreciate that. I gather I am known as "The Tree Man" in my neighborhood since I have a significant number of trees, many are specimen and unique such as metasequoia and ginkgo and I have a minimal amount of lawn. It should be known that as a hybridizer of hemerocallis, daylilies, I am also an licensed and inspected Botanical Research Facility, thus somewhat protected by the law.
Now my next door neighbor appears to dislike trees, and anything to do with them. In the Fall, like now, he mows his law almost every other day to remove leaves. One can almost time it. When he moved in he removed every tree on his property, and planted a lawn like a golf course. Living next to me he must from time to time wonder but our Town has a tree ordinance that prohibits tree removal except under limited circumstances.
My property is a symphony of birds and other creatures. I am greeted each morning by my local squirrel for breakfast, then the birds, chipmunks, rabbits and so forth. I am a grower of many specimen trees and in the Fall it is a pallet of color, and yes leaves. Thus the perpetual mowing I assume.
Now I have observed three types of home owners. One, unique somewhat, are those like me, naturalists and naturalizers. Neat, groomed, well placed, but lawn minimalists. Then there are the lawn only folks. Perhaps a bush or two but all law, perpetually mowed, groomed, watered, fertilized and green. Devoid of any animal life.
The third type is what I call the "white plastic fence" people. These are the recent entrants from the less affluent part of the State who have come into some money, buy a house, and erect massive white plastic fences, which I assume are for some psychic benefit of protection from adversaries.
Now place a law person next to a white plastic fence person and one gets an 1950s Drive In Movie lot! A barren piece of land abutting a massive white wall.
Now I see fence people falling into three categories. The upper class hedge row folks, with long standing and well manicured hedges, always well kept, the middle class open metal fence people who put up a fence to keep out the deer but allow for visibility and have a fence which is fundamentally unobtrusive, and then the white plastic fence folks, the lower class of fence people, who are claiming some form of sovereignty over nature and their land.
Thus for The Tree Man that I am, I like to ever changing colors, shapes and residents of my trees. My deer fence is as unobtrusive as I can make it, and I believe based upon my training and education in Botany and Horticulture that leaves actually nourish the soil, reducing the need to apply any excess of harsh chemicals which run off to the water tables.
I am happy to be The Tree Man, and glad from time to time to show my interested neighbors the striking beauty of a metasequoia or taxodium, or ginkgo. And yes, I do mow my small patch of grass from time to time.
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