Q: I’ve got a couple of feral children who won’t stay away from the old guy next door. The cops say he’s creepy but harmless. The guy doesn’t even have a lawn, just a mess of weeds that make my yard look bad even though mine’s the best one on the block. I found a disgusting grub and I’m ready to go with a complete lawn insect killer as soon as the season is right. But now my rotten kids are lecturing me about lawn care, and I know it’s coming from that codger. Tell me something to shut them all up.
A: Sure. Forget the poisons, smother your grass and go crazy with native plants. Make a mini-prairie if you have sun, fill it with nectar and host plants, places for ground-nesting bees, leave it messy all winter, and don’t forget different water sources for birds and butterflies. And even if you don’t do that, remember the obvious: Grubs are part of life in the soil; they may eat bad things and are eaten by lots of creatures. Get some life in your sterile yard and maybe your kids will stay home and leave that poor guy alone. Next! The Post Oak will not knowingly accept sponsors who are deceptive, misleading, or expressly incompatible with its mission. The Post Oak does not endorse, advocate, or guarantee any offer, viewpoint or representation made by its sponsors. Green Arlington Foundation
Ivan Querido
destroyed in Dream City while you and the other suits sip lattes around your mahogany conference table that used to be home for the last Harpy eagles in Belize? Look what they did now: For one tiny footbridge over a nothing stream, they dumped a mess of ugly rocks, stripped the banks, wiped out dense shrubs and little trees, and capped it off with a sterile blanket of Bermuda grass. Sure it was packed with privet, but what about all those bugs and snails and moths and all those winter birds? Our advice now: “You all just worry about that blue norther, you’ll be fine.” hunker down on that half-dead Bermuda. Don’t
SOLIDAGO
The goldenrod that flashes in the autumn sun Beside a stream or massed along a field edge Signals the season’s change like nothing else.
Almost overnight the weedy clumps That went unnoticed all the summer long Slip on royal raiment, shining sprays
That dip and droop and sway Like kingly banners in the wind, Showing to all around the regal presence.
And courtiers come calling, butterflies, Bees and other feasters on the gilded gift, Swarming happy in October air,
Oblivious to their frosty fate on some tomorrow, Only aware today has brought munificence Of nectar, pollen, sweet perfume to everyone.
©2012 John I. Blair
