The Dress- Episode 3

It is hard to go on vacation when this is a mile down the road...
Luckily, people come visit you!

Vacation?

Yes, I was quiet last week, but I was not on vacation.  I was preparing for and entertaining guests!  Which is all the fun and none of the travel. WIN! WIN!

I also was working on “The Dress- Episode 3”

#sdfairflowerlove Episode 3

It was a stunner!  I am proud to say I grew all the lavender featured on the dress. This dress was planned to help get the floral budget back on track, so it featured a lot of inexpensive and homegrown flowers. 

As I was cutting the lavender what I saw really got me thinking about ecosystems and the vision I have for the hill.  The weeds on the hill really don’t sustain much life beyond their own.  They don’t!  It is just what the weeds are. They take all their energy and put it into their seeds.  They then die and no longer photosynthesize to help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  They don’t feed wildlife.  They don’t provide a nesting environment for birds.  They provide minimal shelter for insects, maybe some food...  I don’t see snails eating much of the weeds, they stick to the succulents on the hill.  The amount of life I see on the hill for the area is minimal.  Weeds, gophers, snails, small bugs, more weeds, more gophers, a bird once in a while hopping around, a Great Egret hopefully eating a gopher once a week, more weeds….  Couple other mismatched plants…

Compare that to my lavender.  While lavender is not a California native, it is right at home here in Southern California.  Once established, it doesn’t require a lot of water other than the yearly rains, maybe some summer water support.  There is no need to alter the environment with mass amounts of fertilizer or “cides”.   Lavender is not an invasive plant and is not a threat to take the neighboring lagoons or hills by force anytime soon, or ever.   While lavender is not a California native plant it is building an ecosystem of its own right in my yard.  My lavender is grown organically with no pesticide, and do you know what natives that supports?  Insects!!  The good kinds.  As I harvested the lavender and made the flowers into the front of the dress the variety of insects I saw was just amazing.  Honey bees, wood bees, bumble bees, little spiders, big spiders, green spiders, all manner of winged insects, different colors of aphids…. Lizards enjoying themselves for a shady moment, possibly an insect meal. The lavender was a bustling ecosystem “city” of its own.  I even saw a garden spider jump out and catch a bee.  I love bees, but seeing the spider catch one for a meal was amazing.  The lavender was happy too.  The wildlife doesn’t take too much from the plant, and the plant doesn’t take too much from the environment.  It felt magical.  It was the balance I want for the hill. 

While I do intend to focus on removing invasives and restoring natives, my experience with the lavender made me realize there may be some “felicitous adoptee” plants that can also “nurture native” wildlife and build a thriving ecosystem – my ULTIMATE goal.  Since I refrained from having “rules” and stuck to “guidelines”, I will allow myself some flexibility.  The idea of  “felicitous adoptees” that build the ecosystem will be key.

Word of the Day:

Felicitous: well chosen or suited to the circumstances.

Stay tuned for Episode 4...  Coming very soon.