Form or Function

Throughout the millennia man has moved to and fro between form and function. One area that has not moved between the two throughout our history is the ornamental garden. Gardens are a symbol of wealth and power. It lets others know that the owner has the means to acquire the plants, the land to grow them without impinging on their own food production and consumption, and the time to create this frivolity. There is no real function in the garden in front of your home, it is just seen as a thing of beauty, purely form. Ornamental gardens around the world can be as simple as just a couple of shrubs, or as opulent and splendorous as Keukenhof in Holland. There is however a recent environmental push to create ornamental gardens that have a functional purpose. You may be starting to see them appear along roadsides, in storm water catch basins and on the roof tops of many buildings. Now I am not speaking of the community gardens, or ones created by building owners that want to try something different, but the ones imposed quietly throughout this fair land by environmental nut jobs! If you want a garden, plant it your selves, unless you don't care to make a difference by your own un-selfish actions.
I have been studying the gardens that are in our area, and at a discounted rate, and what governmental agency gets a discount, it looks as if the cost for these gardens should start at about $20,000 each, and the cost of carpeting a building roof probably would start at over $100,000 and most of this paid by your tax dollars, and don't forget the yearly cost of maintanince.
We are now stuck with this trend due to legal renderings, and if we truly want to follow the function rule we are planting all the wrong material. We are currently planting things that do us no good other that to look pretty and where is the function in that? Let us take the garden and replace in future design the Locust, Service Berry, and other trees with Apple, Pear, Walnut, Cherry and other fruit or nut bearing plants, remember that these trees use more CO2 to grow their fruit than do other non fruit bearing trees. Now we can replace the woody shrubs like the Taxis, Boxwoods, and Cedar Yews with Blueberries, and in wet areas Cranberries. Finally replace the Lillies, Iris's, and ornamental grasses with Corn, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Squash, Green Beans, Potatoes, Garlic as well as many herbs as the list of food bearing plants is too long to name.
By planting gardens that are purely functional we will produce a bounty of food throughout the year that can be utilized by the homeless and the hungry, harvested by volunteers who will collect them and bring bushels of produce to those in need through the free food banks, and still sait the desires of those who would rather see people starve so that their political enviro-wants can be fulfilled. Is it not better to see a true bounty for all for the dollars that are spent?