More and more in our busy technologically dominated age we are becoming disconnected from nature! It’s hard to notice or understand changes in our environment if we are not mindfully present and aware of our natural surroundings.
As summer becomes fall, the nights get cooler, the leaves change color, it gets dark earlier and light latter and our bodies and minds respond to the physical changes in our environment.
The seasons of our lives pass so quickly we don’t always notice and appreciate the beauty and wonders of nature that surround us every day.
It’s true about stopping to smell the roses etc.. It’s not about how many sunsets or sunrises we have missed but the reward and value of what we have experienced. George Carlin said “Life is not measured by the number of breathes we take, but by the moments that take our breathe away”.
One of the ways we can improve our overall landscape environment while increasing our appreciation of nature is to design, create, construct and maintain natural, sustainable landscapes featuring native plants which attract birds, butterflies and especially bees, wasp and other pollinators.
No matter what style of architecture you have, in Westchester we are blessed and surrounded with naturally beautiful landscapes. Even in our more formal hardscapes we can express natural beauty. Something as simple as a curvilinear walk softened by a planting of flowering, fragrant, long blooming perennials and ornamental grasses adds a rich, dynamic vivacious look and feel to your home landscape.
This is the kind of youthful, energized landscape which invigorates young and old alike. This is the perfect landscape to inspire the love and awe of nature in children. In my work in environmental education at Sheldrake Environmental Center in Larchmont, I am always impressed with the enthusiasm and interest the young kids have for our forest ecology program.