Random woman at the garden center said something about "native" plants that stuck with me

She pointed at a patch of goldenrod and said "you know, I remember when these grew everywhere around here as a kid" and I realized I never even noticed how much the roadside wildflowers have changed. Has anyone else had that moment where you suddenly see the difference in what grows wild vs what's planted now?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmaj331mo ago

Started noticing it with the birds at my feeder actually. Same idea but with species - cardinals and chickadees I see all the time now, but my grandma talks about how there used to be way more meadowlarks and bobwhites around here. The garden center lady hit on something real. It's like we're living in a slowly different world than what used to be normal and most people don't even clock it until someone points out what's missing.

skyler431mo ago

Oh man, that hits hard. So your grandma actually remembers the meadowlarks and bobwhites being common, right? Isn't that the thing everyone in these threads is saying - it's not even about rare species, it's about the common ones that just... stopped being common? What do you think, is it just us getting older and paying more attention, or is the landscape actually shifting that fast? Because I swear the older folks in my neighborhood talk about the same kind of stuff with fireflies and certain kinds of butterflies too.