Benjamin Vogt's Blog, page 9

Prairie or Meadow?

Winter Gardens Are in the Details

Wouldn't you say? Winter is when the design comes forth in its raw, naked beauty. Purpose is the echo, the shadow, the negative space. Birds are among the seeds, diving in and out of cover. Everything is more alive, to my eye, than it ever was in summer.

Tall boneset Rudbeckia, sideoats grama, buffalo grass Baptisia australis Coreopsis and Amsonia

Objectifying Nature in Gardens

Obectifying Nature in Gardens

Objectifying nature, say with plants, limits our ability to respond ethically to environmental issues. When we choose a plant for our gardens just because its pretty or visually interesting, we are minimizing the role of nature to heal and adapt... we are minimizing our understanding of life, eroding ability for empathy, and privileging want over need, self over ecosystem. A garden ethic would imply we take into consideration something in addition to aesthetics -- beauty of purpose, fit, and...

Why I Design Native Plant Gardens

I don't design 100% native plant gardens because I'm trying to return Lincoln to tallgrass prairie (though that'd be fine); I understand we've murdered that ecosystem. I design 100% native plant gardens because the insects, and more, that evolved with the tallgrass prairie still exist and play a critical role in the current and future ecosystems that are developing in the wake of our ecocide. I design with native plants because it creates awareness for the prairies that are left (mixed and sh...

Difficult Eco Realities are Empowering & Liberating

If talking about climate change and extinction depresses you, it's partly the realization that you feel powerless and also realize you might be complicit. But facing that reality is empowering; because we are the cause we are also the solution. If the actions I take every day cause so much harm, then my actions can also cause so much benefit. That's awesome! That's liberating for me and the species around me who I influence. While we all struggle with the pain, sorrow, and fear associated wit...

First Snow

For as far back as I can remember an impending snowstorm has excited me to no end. I'd watch (and still do) the weather forecasts every hour, counting down the minutes to the squall line as if it was Christmas morning. Although we only had 1" or so, it's still gorgeous, and makes me feel warm; snow is a great insulator, after all, and just look at what magic it does in the garden:

Winter Gardening is Sublime

A few images to wet your whistle. I tell you what, summer gardens don't hold a candle to the magic of winter -- 5 months of shadow and light, profound silence and absence, negative space, rest and rejuvenation, gathering purpose, habitat for wildlife. And since prairie plants lose up to 1/3 of their roots each year, lots of soil amending is going on. Wow.

The main garden
Smooth aster still showing off
Accidental designing is the best
Joe pye weed dressed to the nines
Birds deserve some art, too, w...

Refugees Aplenty on Earth

The lesser prairie chicken is a refugee. Black-footed ferrets. Salt Creek tiger beetles. Prairie fringed orchids. Literally hundreds of species, flora and fauna, from the former prairies are homeless and vanishing. The tallgrass prairie is the most endangered ecosystem on the planet, once filled with great diversity that made central North America rich in abundance, health, and resilience -- a culture of uniqueness that thrived on interactions of give and take, niches of refuge and hope. Ther...

Book Thankful

I'm honored to have been a part of these books, published from 2014-2016. You really should check them out.

Have images from my garden in this beauty (2016) Includes an interview with me (2016)
One of my poems & a Mennonite family recipe (2015)
A few of my short essays on prairie gardens (2015)
An essay from my Minnesota memoir Morning Glory (2014) An essay from my Oklahoma memoir Turkey Red (2014)