Sunday, May 10, 2020

Poetic injustice. The irony that pokes you may be your own.


The world is full of ironies:  for example--I love crucifers. I love garlic and mustard--but when I saw the vast acres that garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) had smothered in the eastern woodlands in recent years, I was repelled by the plant. Of course, it would never grow in Colorado (I thought) we're so much drier...and a few years later I stumbled on a patch half way between my home and work. And just a few days ago as I walked (teacup in hand) through my garden, Lo! and Behold--what was that plant towering among my precious woodlanders? You guessed it: garlic mustard found its way into my garden.


And a day or two later I looked at this sign at Trader Joe's (again, about half way between my work and home on yet another route) and what should I spy?

I suspect that T.J.'s is only using REAL garlic and REAL mustard seed to produce this--but surely some entrepeneur could do the same with the pernicious weed: I can proffer a hefty clump for testing.

The irony of ironies is of course that much of my "renown" is due to my introducing exotic plants to American and world gardens--such as the first spate of Delosperma from South Africa to name the most obvious. For man years near-hecklers would interrupt my presentations here and there to grill me about the potential perils of my heinous act of plant introduction.

And I have no doubt that some of the plants I have collected may under some circumstance, somewhere, misbehave. It's not something I like to dwell upon. Is there a human action anywhere that doesn't have a negative consequence somewhere else? It's a variation on Newton's Law after all...

So perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that Alliaria has found her  way into my garden. Today I shall uproot her.

Now to see if I can't persuade a few of my friends to join me in uprooting that patch on Cherry Creek nearby: honoring social distance in the process. I hope I can report back on that before long.

Meanwhile you can relish a bit of irony, flavored richly with garlic and mustard as I look on and wince.

5 comments:

  1. You and I spoke about this last summer during a garden tour or Cherokee Ranch trip. I would be glad to join you in that endeavor!

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  2. They're one invasive plant that you can get and stay ahead of, IF you're relentless about getting them out of the soil (complete with turnip-like root) before they go to seed. Happy extraction!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been lucky enough not to have such a monster in my garden. Good luck with your eradication efforts.

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  4. Nice!
    Now try to grow some new fruit plants and tress in your garden. You can buy fruit trees online from Raintree Nursery and make your backyard beautiful and filled with fruits.

    ReplyDelete
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