It seems to me that gardening is by definition about the creation of artificial spaces. A garden of California natives is still an artificial space. So let's just call a spade a spade, and admit that a preference for natives (in private gardens) is as much a subject of taste as whether you think that pink and purple striped petunias are gaudy or divine.
I'm ecstatic that my California natives (a wild lilac 'frosty blue' and a shrub lupine) are will be both gorgeous and more likely not to wither under my black thumb. But I hope that the lilac's blue flowers will musically hint at a later wash of perennial flax, and its white tips suggest a swath of waving japanese anemones.
Posted by rich at November 20, 2002 2:15 PM