In the 18th century, for example, tastemakers had had it with topiary, at a time when virtually anything green was sheared into lollipops, poodles, or peacocks. Two centuries later, the horticultural avant-garde was foaming at the mouth about the then wildly popular Victorian flower bedding schemes. The big battle presently raging in gardening circles concerns native plants. On one extreme are those who insist that planting anything other than beleaguered native species is tantamount to environmental treason. Because there is growing concern that we are poised on the brink of an age of extinction, a biological disaster that could rival anything in evolutionary history, including the mass demise of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
Scientists have yet to agree about the extent of current biological losses.
However, there is almost universal agreement that if human population growth continues on its present course, current extirpation rates will soon accelerate into massive spasms of extinction. As wilderness shrinks and backyard acreage increases, the home gardener's role in this biological debacle grows ever greater. Today, just about every suburban garden from Boston to Seattle consists of the same two dozen plants. Across a continent of breathtaking natural diversity we've planted turf and petunias. The past few decades have given rise to a remarkable series of challenges to traditional gardening's techniques and tools.