Growing Rarity

The clever and useful section of human-kind estimate there’s around 435,000 unique plant species on planet earth. Out of these, it’s believed almost 40% of them are exceedingly rare with recorded observations of five or less and about 2 species a year are made extinct (by humans obvs). That’s the species we know about! The vast majority of these plants would be considered “ornamental”.. ie: not useful to human exploitation other than perhaps, aesthetic.

This is one of the many reasons I love growing so called, rare and unusual “ornamental” plants, despite ornamental gardening becoming more and more associated with bad gardening practice and an almost militant mindset of; “gardens must be for native plants and pollinators”. The thing is, I believe it is perfectly possible to have our cake and eat it! Using intelligent gardening practice (knowing when to leave shit alone) and creating a dynamic, interesting collection of plants cheek-by-jowel with natives is perfectly do’able and, more importantly, perhaps SHOULD be done more.

Imagine an approach to growing and collecting seed of rare, unusual, threatened ornamental species, the same way people approach growing and collecting seed of rare, unusual, threatened vegetable cultivars. In order to preserve the lineage, strengthen genetics, safe-guard and perhaps even diversify phenotypes so that should climate change entirely fuck an ability to thrive in one place, then there are forms all around the globe to give the species a back up. And who knows what medicines might be being kept secret in all the plants out there, never mind the specific role a plant might play in other aspects of its habitat like pollinators, specific mycelia etc!

I’m not talking about the bred-to-death, mass produced garden centre ornamentals here, or even cultivars of any kind. I’m on about straight species, the sort of plants that botanical nerds fawn over and are grown in nurseries slung down dirt tracks and owned by humans that only just pass as “acceptably sociable” for a few minutes a day. I fear that the idea of growing and collecting ornamentals is becoming the new whipping boy at the feet of sustainable gardening and I feel strongly that making an effort to grow, garden with and collect some special plants should be part of the whole movement, not ever increasingly frowned upon as an egocentric, out-dated, unenlightened self-indulgent hobby that shits on ecosystems.

So there!