MY STRANGE TEXAN GARDEN


I have been wondering a lot if I should continue to write about plants and adjacent themes as conditions change as radically for me since we moved from Norway to Houston, Texas. and I really needed some time to digest all the new impressions that will just continue to wave over me.
So what is the biggest difference in a garden in Scandinavia and a garden in Texas except for temperatures?
Maybe the answer to this question will change with the amount of time spent here, but I would claim that Texans prefer a far more stringent garden-style than the Scandinavians.
The reasons for this love of manicured lawns, hedges and shrubs are probably very complex.
Lots of families hire regular help with garden work so the garden will automatically look a tad impersonal, or it can be very strict requirements from the HOA (Home Owner Association), or that keeping track of possible pests can be experienced as better.
Not least do I think that it is more important to provide a well kept and successful impression of the garden because it is associated more strongly with you personally and how successful you are.
If you have an untidy and weed-filled garden in Scandinavia nobody associates it with that you are an inferior person with less control over your own life and actions. (If not the house and the garden is in extraordinary chaos, then). But in the suburbs in Texas, that impression will quickly spread if you let the weed grow high.
I do love the use of evergreen hedges and great shrubs, but I miss a certain frivolity, exuberance and personality as it seems there is little room for or lack of interest in.

