Dear Editor:
Apart from size, what's striking about the new homes in North Vancouver is the lack of originality in garden design.
So carefully manicured are the lawns and plant beds, that artificiality itself seems to be the aim, if not the ideal.
Though distinctive home design is well understood in the real estate industry, lawns continue to look nearly identical, and function more like carpets than living things. Where great effort is spent on symmetry and order, the ultimate effect is one of sterility. Attention to "neatness" when factored into the final look of a front yard, looks more neurotic than natural.
As a status symbol, a grass lawn is about as meaningful as a coat of paint.If the manicured look has visual appeal, it's cancelled out by the simple aims of environmental stewardship, which are only now beginning to catch on.
Of course, I could be guilty of wishful thinking here. Where industrial strength power tools are routinely brought to bear on even the smallest patch of green, peaceful neighbourhoods can quickly turn into industrial zones. Many a rare summer's afternoon has been ruined this way, say what you like about noise regulation bylaws.
For pollinating insects and many species of birds, the typical lawn project is lethal. Run-off into nearby creeks makes a mockery of government attempts to support fish.
Where water consumption is concerned, there ought to be a law. If the motivation behind power gardening is to free up extra time, people are missing out on one of the great secrets of parenthood, namely getting kids hooked on growing things.
Once upon a time, a home was considered a sanctuary; a man's castle, an oasis of tranquility, a retreat from the chaotic and hostile industry of the city. Working the soil was thought to be restorative and regenerative. If you were going to grow things, you should be able to eat them, above all else.
In this part of the world, speed, and ironically, "individualism" rule, even at the expense of the common good.
Fifty or 100 years from now, when individual neighbourhoods, rather than governments, determine the norms of civility, a completely new gardening zeitgeist will emerge, and people will regard the completely conventional, perfectly legal gardening practices of today as not just environmentally retrograde, but unthinkably bad manners.
Hugh Nevin
North Vancouver
