Managing nature in the home garden

Summary, in English

Despite their rootedness, plants do move and are moved between different places in the garden, and from one garden to another. In many private gardens there are plants with a history, and owners who tell stories about how they were brought in from a different location, for example from an old relative or from a journey. These plants are often regarded as relics or souvenirs, and receive special attention and care. Other plants move by themselves in and between gardens, through spreading seeds, winding roots or rhizomes. In some situations they can be regarded as welcome gifts and contributions, in other situations as fierce intruders that need to be controlled. Some plants are in some gardens regarded as useful and pretty, and in other gardens despised as weeds. Some gardeners describe their fight against specific weeds
in terms of a continuous war.

This chapter will discuss people’s relations to plants in motion, moving within and between gardens. It is based on a trans-disciplinary research project, examining the complex interactions between people, plants and other actors in contemporary, private gardens in Sweden. Gardens involve many kinds of movement and motion; changes connected to the cycles of the year, of day and night, life cycles of individuals, intermingled and combined with decisions and actions of human and non-human actors.