permaculture

[samm <samm@hdo.net>]

It's been sort of amusing to see J. L. Hudson discussed in terms of 
native plants. Anyone who's read the opinion pieces in his catalog will 
understand more about where he's coming from. I love his catalog, and 
have placed many orders from it over the years, but realize that J. L. 
Hudson is vehemently opposed to the native plant movement. The philosophy 
is that humankind is just one more "vector" for spreading seeds of all 
kinds around the world. The catalog I have (I haven't one for 1999 yet) 
shows a drawing of a blue jay with a seed in its mouth and behind it in 
the sky a passenger jet--the drawing is called "Vectors," I believe. He 
sees the native plant movement as fascistic, that human beings are almost 
obligated on behalf of evolution to spread every kind of seed from every 
continent anywhere it will thrive and let the plants fight it out among 
themselves. Kind of a bio-libertarianism. 

The catalog is an invaluable source of nonhybridized seed from a 
mind-boggling variety of wild plants from all over the world, and an 
invaluable resource, and the political viewpoints scattered throughout 
make interesting reading. And, for people who love plants, it's a lot of 
fun.

sam