Best Landscape Ideas

What Inspires part 3

In nature, there is a system of checks and balances, which keeps things in proportion. Each plant and each animal have a natural predator or control measure to keep it from over burdening its area of existence.


It is when we humans step in and start to change the functions of Nature that the balance in place goes out of sink. If a continuous disruption of the natural process to a natural landscape persists, the land can become so damaged that all traces of the wild disappear.

In the above photo, we see a field of lupines growing in Northern Ontario. This area was once part of a 400 acre farm bordered by 2 other farms. Today the land has been divided up and sold off to various cottagers who now enjoy a forested landscape and this lupine meadow.

A few years back, the municipality stepped up some services for fire route access and widened the roadway. The meadow was somewhat disturbed but has since recovered gracefully. Looking at these photos, a trained eye can see young tree growth... indicating a revitalization occurring in the once open fields of farming activity from over a century ago.

Nature has stepped back in to a land once cleared. The trees have slowly crept back in where they rightfully belong and Nature has begun to heal itself. Wildlife now has great cover and space to forage. The seed bank of grasses and flowers feed the local bird populations and the ground is cooler, holding in more moisture along the forest floor.

The lupines create an acidic soil balance that helps other plant species move into the sandy soils where nutrients may be hard to obtain. The flowers are paving the way for another 20 years of land recovery. Eventually this field of beautiful flowers will be a maturing forest again and Nature will once again be in Balance thanks to little guys like these working away at the job Nature gave them....


The way that Nature works is a lifetime of learning for us to study. It is what will always inspire me in my work to push further and learn what I can from my greatest teacher.