I live in Omaha, Ne., and do not have unlimited resources for a garden. Yet, I want a nice garden for my wife and I that is sustainable, simple, inexpensive, fun and, well, natural.
Yet, in these days of pesticides, herbicides and chemical-based fertilizers, the question is what is natural? I guess I want to believe that best natural is the use of plants that are drought tolerant, many times already available in you current space, and, in certain ways invasive.
When my wife and I bought our 100+ year old home the back was not cultivated, always simply cut down without any plants to come up on there own. So, I took the bricks that were available in the back and edge a back planting area, and waiting, weeded a little, and looked to see what came up on its own. I had a few surprises. I found that a couple of peonie plants wanted to grow, and there were red lilies, the type that grow from seed, that were already present and Lilies of the Valley, see upper right corner, were growing on the north-east side. So, I have kept these plants and I am trying to cultivate and really use them in there easiest form, and I have learned wonderful about these plants. For example, I learned that the Lilies of the Valley should be moved to space between my and my neighbors house, where barely any direct light falls. So, that if I do this these lilies are a natural ground cover that love shade, and will grow with intensity.
I think another caveat to naturalness is sharing flowers with your neighbors and friends, receiving and giving. I have been given tulips that are beautiful and Irises that are extremely hardy from my coworkers, and I did not pay any thing, except a sincere thank you.
My third opinion of natural gardening, especially cultivating flowers, is that the environment should not have to pay for our need for beauty. Most of this pay comes in the form of water usage, so if we can find flowers that need minimal water, and work with your environment, I think that is best. Because of this, in the next couple years I wish to grow these flowers: Shasta daisies, purple cone flowers, and all types of daylilies. I am exploring lists of drought tolerant perennial flowers. A good list that I have found is on the following website: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/flowers/perennials_drought.htm
