Concepts: a Matter of Taste

Yes, Virginia, there is something called taste, and it goes like this. 

Nothing is more harmoniously beautiful than a truly natural landscape (of course not including those landscapes that people mistake for natural, like our California golden hills of stickers) whether viewed from the ground or from high above. The way water arranges itself in meanders and ponds and deltas and oxbows, the way erosion sculpts mountains and builds up valleys and beaches; the way a myriad vegetation types interface and interdigitate, all according to underlying natural forces that drive the whole wondrous, ever changing, ever awe-inspiring tableau. 

But when we, or our minions the “weeds,” enter the picture, the harmony becomes fouled. 

Foolish to think we can “create” a “natural” landscape. Such things as rock-pile waterfalls, and even “restored dunes” all look as phony as they are. 

Much more respectable to be honest about the whole thing, admit we can’t rival or “blend into” the natural landscape. 

Punch line is: please let’s acknowledge the reality of nature vs. artifice, and keep a clear border between the two. Town and country. Garden and wilderness.