Plants

The planet Earth is dominated by plants, and the green plant is fundamental to all other life. Charles Lewis explored human ties to the green world and concluded that people and [Page 349]plants are entwined by threads that reach back to our very beginnings as a species. Plants have a wide spectrum of uses, supplying our food requirements either directly or indirectly as feed for animals. Crop production—the management of useful plants—is the very basis of our civilization. Plants are used as a source of construction materials and as the raw materials in the manufacture of fabrics and paper. Plants are the basis of many of the complex substances used such as dyes, tannins, waxes, resins, flavorings, medicines, and drugs. Plants, in addition to having a direct effect on our ecological position, are used to control erosion by water and wind, provide a setting for recreation and sports, and as landscape materials that satisfy our desire for beauty. This article focuses on the use of plants in contemporary American gardens and the current awareness of using plants that provide a more sustainable approach to the environment.

An estimated 36 million U.S. households, including the White House, now participate in food gardening. Here, First Lady Michelle Obama works with children from a local elementary school to break ground for a White House kitchen garden

Source: Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House

According to Bruce Butterfield of the National Gardening Association, 81.2 million households in the United States in 2008 were involved in some form of gardening. These activities all require the growing or maintaining of plants and are a form of green consumerism. His research further broke this down to more specific trends. For example, homeowners spent a record $44.7 billion in 2008 to hire lawn care and landscape maintenance services, landscape installation and construction services, tree care services, and landscape design services. Thirty percent of all households nationwide, or an estimated 34.5 million households, currently hire at least one type of lawn and landscape service. As a consequence, the most popular plant-related activities in the United States are lawn care, landscaping with ornamental plants, and vegetable and fruit production. In 2008, interest in household participation in food gardening increased. Thirty-one percent of all U.S. households, or an estimated 36 million households, participated in food gardening. This includes growing vegetables, fruit, berries, and herbs.

Those 81.2 million households in the United States pose a considerable threat to natural functioning ecosystems through the overuse of pesticides and fertilizers that can affect the water quality in nearby groundwater and surface water areas. This has been documented by a number of studies showing high levels of pesticides and nutrients, primarily nitrates, leaching into drinking-water wells and flowing into rivers that eventually reach the oceans.

Any discussion of plants ought to include a brief discussion of gardening and the garden. The garden is a product of the domestication of plants, a utilitarian place, and a place of ritual. Gardening is a practice through which the division between humans and the rest of the world can be bridged. This practice is highly personal, providing real physical places to contemplate the world through the cultivation of plants. Gardening requires active engagement with the natural world: Planting a seed, running one's fingers through the soil, [Page 350]or watching a plant grow are living embodiments of this personal exploration. Through cultivating a particular parcel over a series of years, a gardener develops a personal connection to that place.

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