Is Your Garden Better Than Mine?
Are gardeners an elitist bunch? According to cultural anthropologist Jane Nadel-Klein as quoted in the Houston Chronicle online, garden snobbery is on the rise as more and more gardeners set their sights on the unusual and the trendy. Nadel-Klein points out the class bias against filling your garden with common annuals, like pansies and petunias, including the tee shirt you've probably all seen that reads, "Friends don't let friends buy annuals."
I am guilty of many gardening 'Don'ts' and my Latin is often corrected. I like to think that's how I learn. So I try not to judge other gardeners too harshly, although I'm sure I do judge. Some people are born gardeners, but I also think many a great gardener is made through perseverance and enjoyment.
Do you think the designation ‘Gardener’ should be reserved for people who know what they’re doing? That true gardeners should know (and use) the Latin names for plants and you can judge a garden by the distinctiveness of its plants. Or is anyone who enjoys getting their hands dirty and swapping slug stories a gardener?
Could it be that we've taken a hobby that comes with dirty finger nails, bug spray, mud boots and all and turned into garden snobs? Cast your vote below. If more than one answer applies, feel free to vote again. We're all friends here, right?
___________________________________________________________________
Poll:
Are You a Garden Snob?- The designation ‘Gardener’ should be reserved for people who know what they’re doing.
- There’s nothing wrong with judging a garden by the distinctiveness of its plants.
- True gardeners should know (and use) the Latin names for plants.
- I appreciate a great garden, but I’m just happy to see flowers wherever they appear.
- I’m willing to accept anyone who enjoys getting their hands dirty and swapping slug stories.
- People who pop in a few petunias and geraniums should not be considered gardeners.
- View Results
Comments
I consider a garden snob someone who has experienced enough to move beyond the usual plants and seeks the interesting and unique. I am one and I believe this just comes with experience and the enjoyment of expanding one’s knowledge and one’s garden. It is not about latin names. To me the ‘title’ of Gardener can mean many things and should mean a real love of gardening. If you consider it mental health, you are a Gardener.
I am sorry that people’s front gardens are so trite and ordinary.
At least I try to make it interesting by planting something different.
You can tell at once whether the gardener knows he’s doing or not.
I photogragh a lot of gardens around town and some are spectacular.
Wow: was sure surprised to see that the poll broke 50-50 (choices 1, 2, 3, and 6 vs choices 4 and 5. Been growing and planting for 50 years or so and never knew that “gardening” could be divided into elitist and commoner; then again, I like a lot of petunias, geraniums, and zinnias in my beds so I guess that makes me one of the lowly. I promise to try harder to better myself and be worthy to be called a “gardener”.
dave
Plants are living, breathing creatures who respond to careful and attentive interation with humans. Just ask the first farmer. Anyone who knows this as truth is a Gardener. Some of us are just better at it than others. It’s great to make our world more beautiful and to take care of these tender treasures.
It is interesting how split the votes are. I think this anthropologist is going to make us all feel guilty every time we see a plant or planting that we don’t like. I think you can be play favorites without being a snob. And once you know something about growing plants, you do become more selective when friends want to share their ‘enthusiastic’ divisions with you. But not everyone shares the gardening gene, so always a little patience.
My garden is a riot. Friends give me plants and I put them where I like them. I buy plants becasue I like them…A garden should be a place of love. Mine reminds me of frinds and family because I have plants from them. I have rescued plants that always touch my heart. We live on one of the busiest intersections in our suburban community, People I don’t even know stop and tell my how lovely my flowers are, they honk at as we work, everyone knows where we live. And sometimes I am fortunate enough to be near the street, have some roll down their window and tell me how lovely things are looking..then If I am fast enough I can pick a flower and give it to them. That my friends, is gardening.
I think that a “good” gardener is not one who can spout all the botanical names but one who can work with the soil they have, the weather that comes their way and is willing to share their expertise without talking downto a person. She/he is willing to try new plants etc including new varieties of veggies. I know people who can spout all sort of latin names but not even know what the plant looks like. So you who can spout latin names don’t look down on us who know “just the common names” because we just might be a better gardener than you are.
My garden is loud and colorful. I try to have stuff blooming almost 12 months a year. My garden will stop you in your tracks it is so bright. I live to garden and am not a snob except in the sense that I do not consider someone a gardener who pays others to do their gardens. I live to garden and it is rare when I find someone my age who is as passionate about it as I am, I am 51, but that has always been the case. I just don’t think most of the women around here like to get dirty and sweaty. I live outside of Charleston, SC. But I love it so. I really do not know that many latin names and rarely use the ones that I do know. I go to local horticultural society meetings but all of the grande dames sit together and really do not make us newcomers feel very welcome at all. And yes they are the ones spouting the lating names. My goal is to have a happy colorful garden that makes me joyous when I drive up to my house and also makes others happy too. I start out planning but it seems to always degenerate into sticking things places and moving them later. I want to try so many things and have a certain amount of space. But garden snob I am clearly not.
It was difficult to vote in your “gardening snob” poll. I want to toss in a reply that says those “snobs” who relish the very unique and different plants they possess are not “gardeners” at all, but rather, environmental nuisances, responsible for many of the horrible invasives that are wreaking havoc on local flora and fauna all over our country. True “gardeners” are those who get down and dirty, swap slug stories, grow their own vegetables and do it organically. And if you REALLY want to be a good gardener, go native.
I HAVE BEEN PLAYING WITH DIRT SINCE I WAS A LITTLE GIRL. IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY IS WHAT IS HOW I GARDEN ALL MY LIFE WITH MY GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER.GARDEING WAS A GIFT IN LIFE SO THIS IS HOW AND WHAT I USE WHEN OUT IN THE DIRT WITH MOTHER NATURE. EVERY ONE HAS THERE OWN LIKING TO THE GROWN. DID ALL PERENNIALS GARDENS ALL MY LIFE BUT HAVE NOW GONE TO BOTH TYPES OF GARDENS. I FIND THAT ANYTHING RELATED TO THE EARTH HAS IT PURPOSE. THANK GOD FOR WHAT WE ALL HAVE TO ENJOY. AS LONG AS YOUR HAPPY AND ENJOY YOUR EARTHLY GARDEN NOTHING REALLY MATTER WHAT OTHERS THINK. JUST ENJOY AND BE HAPPY.SMILE AND HAD A GOOD DAY!