Thursday, May 6, 2021

Dandelions and Historic Preservation


This remarkable front garden is just down the street from us on Fortune Green Road. It has been entirely colonized by dandelions, and when they're all blooming it's quite a spectacle. I'm a big believer in saving dandelions, because the bees love them, but they do run rampant if they're allowed to go to seed -- as these have been.


Here's an overview. It looks more unkempt than intentionally left wild, especially with that hunk of wood or whatever lying in the middle. The bluebells always wind up looking a little baked, because bluebells are shade-loving plants suited to living under trees in a wood. I think if this were my garden I'd plow it up and start over, and plant things that like direct sun.

So, there's my armchair gardening for the day.

Speaking of plowing things up, my brother sent me a depressing article from my hometown newspaper about a historic house that's going to be demolished. This place looks beautiful and wildly eccentric and artsy and also well-preserved; I think it's a crime to allow it to be torn down. It's another example of an older home in Florida being flattened so an owner can build something bigger and more modern with a lot less character. There are more pictures on the Zillow listing.

My brother is involved in historic preservation so he could explain this dynamic a lot better than I can, but basically, in Florida, where there's a strong tradition of private property rights and relatively little appreciation for local history, communities are often unable or unwilling to flex the regulatory muscle that would prevent such destruction. City leaders, starved of civic income by successions of tax-averse Republican-leaning governments, are terrified of expensive lawsuits. I hope they find a way to stop this place being demolished, but with waterfront land at an expensive premium it's probably unrealistic to expect the city to step in and secure it for any public purpose. (It would make a great museum, though, much like the admittedly much grander Ringling Mansion in Sarasota.)

I must say, this is one cool aspect of living in London; history is all around us, and there are strong regulations to ensure that neighborhoods remain architecturally and historically consistent. There are still controversies but the government denies planning applications or requests modifications all the time. (By the way, I think the proposed Hampstead house in that linked article is actually pretty interesting -- and unlike the Florida situation, it's replacing an unremarkable structure with no historic or aesthetic significance.)

Otherwise, it's life as usual around here. I'm starting to weed more of our library collection in preparation for the big move in a few weeks. But I believe in historic preservation, so I'm saving some old stuff, as long as it has character and remains useful!

30 comments:

Moving with Mitchell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ursula said...

What of houses torn down because they were, say, the scene of murder and bodies piling up in the bathtub? Historic value yes, but to whom? Usually those who don't have any ambition to live in the place. And never is there a sight as sorry as those blue plaques pinned to the outside of a dwelling once inhabited by, say, I don't know, Anne Hathaway, Quentin Crisp, Mozart.

Dandelions are great. First they are yellow - a colour that delights me, a colour worth living for. When going to seed dandelions are magic. As I demonstrated to the Angel and his friends when they were little. Pick, I said, pick gently and blow. And so they did. Little stars dancing in the air, dancing in the wind. I can't tell you how popular that made me with the neighbours on either side of our garden. The only reason they didn't come after me with a pitchfork was because I was popular with the neighbours.

U

Ursula said...

"A mess"? We weren't put on this planet to beat nature into submission and enforce our suburban ambitions onto our neighbours.

U

Yorkshire Pudding said...

You would never get a tractor and plough on to the dandelion garden to "plow"(sic) it up - unless it was a very small tractor driven by a garden gnome.

Steve Reed said...

No, Mitchell's right -- it IS a mess. Not just because of the dandelions, which by themselves and with some limitations wouldn't be so bad. But because there's also a hunk of junk lying amid the flowers.

Steve Reed said...

Murder scenes are something else entirely. And I disagree about the blue plaques. I think they're interesting and I always enjoy finding myself in proximity to history when I see one. I agree, however, about dandelions -- we let them grow.

Steve Reed said...

I think you can plow without technically using a plow -- at least in vernacular speech. Don't get me started on crazy British spellings!

Ms. Moon said...

Oh, that house! I saw the article about it earlier. It's just a jewel of a house. The problem is, of course, that no one wants to maintain that sort of place. Even though anyone able to afford the house would of course have some sort of staff, that would take a myriad of cleaners, gardeners, carpenters, and...art restorers? But gosh I love it.

Anonymous said...

I've noticed a lot of the front yards around town end up looking like the one in your neighborhood. I'm never sure why, but I wonder if the owners go out of town and just leave it to weed over while they're gone. I let a few dandelions go to seed in our front and back yards, a little wild seed for the critters.
That mansion is quite a mansion. Wow!

Debby said...

Oh my goodness! What a house! Some of the huge properties here are turned into apartments. What a lovely apartment building or condominium that space could become if it could not be sold as a single family home.

Ellen D. said...

I wonder about people that can live like that in such an opulent mansion. It really is over the top in decoration. It would feel like living in a museum. No thanks!

Red said...

Money shaped the building of some great houses. Now money is tearing down those same houses. Many of the old houses are well worth saving.

Bob said...

We are so quick to destroy the pat here in America. It's sad, really.

Margaret said...

That is sad. In my case, my town is tearing up daffodil/tulip fields to build huge warehouses. Again, it's all about the money. The valuable farmland in my valley is no longer farms; it's cookie cutter housing developments. :(

Sharon said...

I LOVE that top photo! But I see what you mean when you look at the whole garden.
It would be awful to see that house torn down but since I live in state with similar political leanings, I understand completely how it will probably happen.

Edna B said...

I'll bet before all those dandelions went to seed that the little garden was a blaze of beautiful yellow. I agree, that hunk of wood should be taken out of the garden. I did not know that bluebells were shade flowers. Interesting. You have a super day, hugs, Edna B.

Linda Sue said...

tsk tsk America- the tearing down of that building is , well , you know.Typical.
Love the yard of dandelions, I would leave them a thank you note and sign it "mother nature".

Allison said...

Tearing down that building is a crime. Yes, part of the interior is over the top, but the exterior alone warrants its continued existence.

Jim Davis said...

Another piece of what used to be gone at the hands of people who do not see what a classic that home is. Yes, the interior could use some "toning down" but the exterior and grounds are beautiful. What a shame.

Sabine said...

I love the dandelions, it does call for courageous gardening. I wonder what the relationship is with the neighbours.
We started last year to leave a square (a little bit smaller than that front garden in your picture) in a sunny section of the lawn to fend for itself. That is no weeding, no mowing, no watering. The plan is to watch what happens for 5 years. Last summer it was sea of poppy and clover - opportunists at heart. We are waiting for this year's wonders. Dandelions have just started to arrive.

Beth Reed said...

Ahhhh I just love the dandelions, they are one of my very must have flowers in the right spots of course and a few wild here and there but I am so glad that perhaps that some people are thinking about how beneficial dandelions are to the preservation of our much needed bees. Thank you for the photos.

I hate apartment living for the one reason that we cannot have anything hanging such as potted plants or even ones sitting in pots and even if we could someone would steal it.

I have always loved the fact that England has preserved so much of their history where here in America it really hasn't been a priority and I have found that sad but the places that do have our history preserved I am grateful.
My little grand daughter is begging to go outside so I will take her while it is cool. Have a great day/evening!!!

Anonymous said...

That is terrible that a house in such good condition would be demolished.

The Padre said...

Agreed

Janie Junebug said...

It breaks my heart that the mansion will be torn down. Yes, it's odd, but it's odd in such a cool way. The guy who bought it has no interest in preserving it--in spite of the great exterior, the fabulous windows, and the lovely wood. New is not better, in this case. We need to appreciate our past.

Love,
Janie

jenny_o said...

Dandelions that have gone to seed provide food for small birds, and I don't find they bother me on their own. It's the knobby weeds that tend to accompany them that I don't care for. Maybe the folks who live there need a volunteer gardener :)

Steve Reed said...

I couldn't agree more!

Steve Reed said...

I'd be happy if they'd just pick up that hunk of wood!

ellen abbott said...

the bluebells may be shade lovers but they certainly are blooming profusely. and what a shame that mansion is going to be torn down.

The bike shed said...

I eventually found your blog because we seem to comment on so many similar sites - the link wasn't working fro a while; at least for me. But hey, here now. There is a trend to let leave lawns uncut for ecological purposes - I like to use this as an excuse for not mowing.
My house in South Wales is so old we don't know when it was built - it is listed now. Something similar with my cottage in West Wales - built by farmers, it is what they called a vernacular construction.
Interesting what you say in your blog summary about words taking over from photos - I was a painter and found my sketchbooks filling with words - I am now a writer by love and profession.

My life so far said...

I looked at that house built by Kellogg, I think. Wow. That's quite the house. I think it's sad to bulldoze it though.

And dandelions, they're tough and colorful and they're the first things to bloom here in Alberta so I like them.