In an image-driven culture, gardening is symbolic. It fills the social role of display. Like clothing or a tan or a tattoo.

The key is to fill the social role while protecting one’s private ownership and control at the same time. These are important Canadian values. Plant a few colourful plants randomly, nod to the lush cornucopia of an ancient botanical garden, surround them with gravel, as a nod to water conservation, and surround the plants with chicken wire, to keep the freaking ***!!!! deer off, who threaten to sabotage the whole enterprise by respecting neither boundaries nor property values!.

Seriously? Chicken wire? Look, this is, actually, pretty amateur. Down the street, the pros are at work.

See that? Cheatgrass, the invasive scourge of the entire West. Pretending to be a decorative grass.

Now, that’s chutzpah.