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"Development"
Bulldozer Blues
The years make changes. Things look different -- the appearance of a house,
a woman's face, a creek, a hill is different as time goes by. Even the
meaning of a word may lose its former significance. To "develop" once meant
something lovely. A flower developed from a green slip to a budding beauty,
a girl child became a shapely maiden, a scraggly piece of land was turned
into a productive farm. But nowadays a developer thinks only in terms of
money. He envisions the profit from leveling a hill or filling a ravine, in
order to build houses to sell. He divides and subdivides, and a charming
foothill becomes a mediocre lot, a piece of real estate with a dollar sign
and little else.
It may have a view of other lots, or of hills and vales not yet subdivided.
But the birds have left; and trees, shrubs, and flowers have gone down
before the bulldozer. Acres that once brightened in spring with wallflowers,
evening primroses, wild phlox, sego lilies and others now lie trampled --
done to death. Nature was a fine gardener on these hill plots. She sent
moisture in winter and spring, hot sun for summer dormancy, seed ripening
and scattering. Birds feasted on fall seeds and left plenty for storms to
replant.
There is a bright spot in our bulldozer blues. It is to save some of these
foothill flowers while their habitats remain. Those flowers which some call
dogtooth violets, others call snow lilies or trout lilies, and botanists
call Erythronium (and all call beautiful), grow best in the
acid soil of oak groves. The bulbs grow deep, and are hard to dig and
transplant. The seed germinates well, but is slow to bloom. When the scrub
oaks that once patched our foothills disappear, with them will go these
golden lilies. This spring search for the seed pods and try to produce a few
seedlings. Give them rich oak-leaf or pine-needle acid soil, and they will
reward you in time.
The Sego lilies, which also produce seeds that sprout well, require drier
spots in summer than most gardens afford. If you can find a scrap of dry
foothill where nature has its way, you may have the joy of seeing our state
flower bloom for you. We need such areas protected from bulldozer blues.
Leave the Leaves
Dr. Harold William Rickett of the New York Botanical Garden, in his fine
introduction to WILDFLOWERS OF THE UNITED STATES, Volume VI, after a plea
"for the preservation of natural beauty, endangered as it is by our
expanding cities and suburbs and the thousands of miles of paved highways,"
strikes a fresh note on picking wildflowers.
"You may fill your arms in fall with wild asters -- and more will grow next
summer from the same roots. You may pick bouquets of violets and columbines,
so long as you leave most of the leaves and do not disturb the underground
parts. The point is that the life of the plants depends mainly on their
leaves. When a wild aster blooms, its growing season is done; the leaves
have done their work, and enough surplus food has made its way from them to
the subterranean stem and roots -- enough to start the next season with.
Plants that bloom in the spring, some even before the leaves are fully
developed, must retain their leaves after flowering. As for annuals -- the
ground is full of their seeds; some, at least, will sprout another year.
"Transplanting is another matter. Most wildflowers are hard to grow and do
not easily take to a new environment. Some can be moved successfully -- by
an experienced gardener. Some, unfortunately many of those most desirable
for the wildflower garden, rarely survive the operation. . . . So, unless
one has experience above what is usual, and a sufficient area of natural
woodland, swamp, or desert -- it is best to leave the wild things to
flourish in their own places."
My exception to Dr. Rickett's remarks on transplanting (I'm sure he would
agree) is that when the start of a highway or subdivision has been
established, every shrub and plant should be removed skilfully to the best
available location. Some will survive, and give you and others joy.
-- Dixie E. Rose
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