Al Kyte's Life Take-Aways

 

I have been known as an athlete, teacher/coach, and fly fisherman and, more recently, of all things, a gardener.  I remember not having the slightest interest in gardening when my wife, Barbara, and I moved into our home in the early 1970s.  Yet our garden has since been featured regularly on the Bay Area’s “Bringing Back the Natives” tour, as well as other tours for master gardeners, landscape designers, and garden clubs.  Articles have been written about our garden.  How has such a change come about?

Early in our married life, I realized I needed to do more to help out around the house.  But lacking in handyman skills, I saw our yard as having more appeal for me than the work bench in the garage.  A friend of mine, familiar with our community, boasted that he knew what our garden looked like without even seeing it.  “It is lawn, Algerian ivy, and juniper.”  It irritated me that he had it exactly right.  But was that the kind of garden I wanted?  That lawn drank a lot of water, the juniper was prickly, and the ivy, invasive.  Our home’s previous owner left his power mower for us and gave me instructions for its use.  “…and, you always start the mower in the backyard,” he concluded.  Adding that comment to my notes, I asked, “Why is that?”  He replied, “So you don’t look bad in front of your neighbors when it doesn’t start.”  And that man was an engineer, much handier than I.  Not a good sign.  I didn’t care much for those plants nor the equipment needed to maintain them.

My first thought about the garden was that I should do something to attract more birds than I was seeing.  I noticed a class being offered on that topic so signed up for it.  However, that class was not about birds.  It was about California native plants that would attract birds.  That was the defining moment.  It opened my eyes to a type of of garden I had never thought about—one with plants I loved being around in the wilds when fishing or backpacking.  Could I bring such plants to our yard?  From that moment, I had a vision.  I did not want to step outside into a typical garden, but into some sort of natural woodland.  

I started doing projects—at least one each year for many years—to help transform our yard into a more natural-looking space.  I liked that gardening allowed me to experiment and make mistakes, yet still learn.  I learned that modern gardening practices go beyond conserving water to restoring habitat being lost to development as well as eliminating pesticides that kill our butterflies and other pollinators.  I was also becoming familiar with and drawn to various artistic concepts such as creating a balance between the space used for rocks, plants and water.    

As my knowledge and perspective were changing, I began to see an underlying value that was not changing—creating a garden that is both natural and beautiful.  Increasingly, I viewed our garden as a canvas for artistic expression.  I also like that such a garden can offer refuge for animals, discovery for children, and peace for busy adults.  Looking back, I find it fascinating that something I have come to enjoy so much had its beginnings in attitudes of disinterest and obligation—a household chore.  Like life itself, gardening can apparently follow a path of unforeseen turns.