Lessons sown by garden complaints

Re: “Naturalized garden is unattractive” (Letters, July 26); “Let’s all mind our own gardens” (Letters, July 27)

We would like to publicly thank all the people who have supported us and our garden, and who have signed our petition asking the city of PointeClaire to amend its bylaws. The support has meant the world to us throughout this troubling affair.

If you do not support us and you find our garden upsetting, please ask yourself the following questions: What specifically is it that offends you so viscerally? Is it the appearance of our garden not being managed? (We actually spend much more time working on it than we would on a mowed lawn.) Is it the failure to conform to esthetic standards? Are our esthetic values less valid than yours? Should esthetics never change? Is it possible that our garden represents a challenge to a broader cultural narrative of man’s rightful role as conqueror of nature, and that such a challenge upsets you? If you cannot adapt to a naturalized garden, how will you cope with the lifestyle changes entailed in facing global climate change?

Please also consider that we cannot be the people we are without the supporting role played by the material artifacts we put into practice. Doctors need stethoscopes, judges need gavels, teachers chalk, and so on. An ecologist needs material evidence that she is not sterilizing the area under her stewardship, especially in an era of collapsing biodiversity.

Learning can be a painful adventure at times. We are pleased that, perhaps in some small measure, our garden has helped start a public conversation, and we hope we can all learn something from it. Peter Graham and Shirley Nisbet, Pointe-Claire