Lettuce and herbs can be grown for their beauty as well as for the practical use, as shown in this display at Olbrich Garden.
Posted on 02/22/2009 12:44:31 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Why is America so in love with pristine, empty front lawns that isolate neighbor from neighbor, require dirty fuels to mow, harsh chemicals to prevent weeds and loads of water to keep green? What happens when those lawns are ripped out and replaced with an edible landscape?
Those controversial questions are at the heart of internationally acclaimed architect/artist Fritz Haeg's work over the last five years, and were the subject of a talk he presented Thursday as part of Olbrich Garden's Midwest Gardening Symposium.
The symposium, attended by over 160 gardeners, included four other speakers who were part of a day-long program touting the benefits and pleasures of edible gardens, a subject made more urgent by the current economy and issues surrounding food costs and safety.
The symposium was a collaborative effort between Olbrich and the University of Wisconsin's Allen Centennial Gardens.
An increasingly influential young artist whose work is supported by major institutions like the Whitney in New York, and the Tate Modern in London, Haeg is a harsh critic of the expansive and perfectly manicured lawn. He sees it as a symbol of an idealized elitism that has encouraged Americans to separate themselves from each other, and from the natural world.
Projects like his Edible Estates and Animal Estates have been featured in the New York Times, major design publications and on National Public Rado.
In communities from Salina, Kansas to Los Angeles, and Maplewood, New Jersey to London, Haeg has helped individuals tear up their front lawns and replace them with edible yards.
He has chosen communities where making a garden front yard out of lawn creates some tension and controversy, issuing a deliberate challenge to the notion that our idealized home should be viewed in an empty, park-like setting. Those conformist ideas are reinforced in many places by long-ingrained habits, or even by community covenants or ordinances.
His work includes extensive documentation of the process and reaction to the edible yards over time. Haeg's book describing the project, "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn" was offered for sale at the talk. Shortly after the artist's appearance, all 50 copies ($24.95) sold out.
Haeg -- lanky, soft-spoken and amusing -- wore a knit hat throughout his Madison appearance, but assured the audience he was not put off by Thursday's deep cold and bitter wind, even though he had just flown in from his home and studio in Los Angeles.
"I'm a 4th, maybe 5th, generation Minnesotan," he said. "I was born and raised under these conditions."
Haeg, a gardener himself, made a strong case for lawns as an environmental and social disaster. But even some of those in the Olbrich audience who identified themselves as unabashed lawn mowers said they appreciated what he had to say.
"I mean, what kind of company makes a sign with little cartoon kids and dogs crossed out?" Haeg asked to ripples of laughter as he showed his audience a slide of the kind of warning signs chemical lawn care companies post after applying pesticides to a yard.
The rest of the day's speakers also encouraged home gardeners to think about adding more food to their gardening practices.
Jennifer Bartley, a landscape architect and author of the book "Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager," showed how gardens kept in close proximity to our homes and filled with herbs, fruits and vegetables have nourished the human spirit and stomach from the beginning of time. She advocates bringing such gardens back into the residential landscape, for aesthetic reasons as well as practical ones.
Mark Dwyer, director of horticulture for Janesville's Rotary Botanical Gardens, is an expert on combining garden-fresh vegetables and herbs as an edible part of spectacular landscaping. In his talk, he showed how perennial flower beds can share space with edible annuals, and how it's possible to make a garden as nutritious as it is beautiful.
Other speakers included Janet Macunovich from Pennenial Favorites in Michigan who is an expert on using color in the garden, and David Cavagnaro, a professional photographer and manager of the genetic preservation gardens for Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa, discussing the use of heirloom vegetables in contemporary gardens.
Lettuce and herbs can be grown for their beauty as well as for the practical use, as shown in this display at Olbrich Garden.
That’s lovely!
Victory gardens.
Because, they look really nice and relaxing and they make it easy to spot nitwit artiste a-holes who can't resist the urge to pester their neighbors over nothing.
He's obviously not a Libertarian. ;)
To a lot of people, their lawn is a work of art.
Projects like his Edible Estates.
C'm here Haeg. Eat this.
MTD Turf King bump.
Took me about two hours yeaterday, but finaly got it running primo and tore up a bunch more of my yard.
Gotta get a bag or two of steer manure.
I’m going heavy duty into veggies this year, ain’t monkeying around...
I say let people who want lawns have lawns, and let people like me who want gardens instead of lawns to have them. I can’t stand nosy neighbors who dictate what I should grow.
Not a bad idea, but where I live, we are so overrun with dear, they’d eat everything in the yard! V’s wife.
And kids can play on them alot easier than a yard with raised beds with stone borders or railroad ties.
Hah! I couldn’t get a C of O for my house till the grass was planted.
Eat the deer!!
cripplecreek wrote:Like that. Mine is because the wife and I are both unemployed, and looking for any job right now. We'll call it an "Obama garden" in honor of The One who ruined the economy and destroyed our jobs.
Victory gardens.
That’s a stunning garden.
Where is that (ie, what region of the country?)
Because I can.
Repeat.
PS - My garden (veggie & fruit) is in the backyard.
Corn, tomatoes and beans grow well in my part of the country. Think anybody would object to digging up my front yard and planting them? Oh, and if this artist thinks you can get much out of a garden without the liberal use of pesticides and other chemicals, water and machinery, he probably hasn’t gardened much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.