By Marvin Miller, AIB President

The balance of life is probably not understood by most species, even if they’re part of it. And in reality, part of the circle of life goes unseen. In the desert, cacti, known as being efficient users of water, can also be a water source in an emergency. Some cacti provide protection for animals. Hares, small rodents, and other burrowing creatures often build homes near patches of cacti in hopes that the cactus spines will help thwart predators. And after all of that, cacti also produce oxygen and fix carbon, the part of the circle of life that remains hidden to most.

Elsewhere, depending upon the desert, palms, yucca, agave, creosote, ocotillo, sagebrush, and other plants provide shade for small respites from the day’s heat.  Plants are also a food source for some species and provide habitat for others.  Again, these plants produce oxygen and fix carbon, helping to continue the circle of life.

Snakes may spend their days coiled in the brush or even underground, emerging towards evening to forage, thus playing their role in this circle of life.  Lizards may be equally coy by day and more active in the evening, at night, or in early morning.  Birds may nest in some of the plants, feed on the fruits of others, and/or become the food of others species.  Thus the circle of life revolves, and life in the desert hangs in the balance.

In the urban environment, daytime temperatures may not be as high as in the desert, if only because cities are often developed in areas with more moderate climates.  Yet, conditions may be no less harsh.  The steel, brick, concrete, and asphalt jungles become heat sinks of their own making.  Add to this the humidity, the pollution from automobile exhaust, belching smokestacks from industry, and the wastes of man, and the urban environment may be equally inhospitable.  Often the mix of heat, ozone, and inversion layers keeps night temperatures warmer than those experienced in the desert. Of course, the introduction of plant materials into this urban environment can go a long way toward helping to moderate the climate.  Just as in the desert, flowers, shrubs, trees, turf and, groundcovers produce oxygen and fix carbon, but these plants also provide habitat, food, and/or shelter for many of the city’s residents.  Again, life hangs in the balance that nature provides.

Certainly, the primary goal of America in Bloom is to encourage the use of plant materials in the urban environment.  We do this because we truly believe that plants are an important part of mankind’s existence.  People need to have both an active (be around plants) and a passive (have plants around them) relationship with plants.  Though urban plants still produce oxygen and still fix carbon, there is plenty of research testifying to the importance of people-plant relationships for other reasons.  (This can be found on the AIB website at http://www.americainbloom.org/ under the Community Resources tab.)  The balance of life may be different than in the desert, but this urban balance is no less critical.

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I look forward to seeing you for our 10^th Anniversary Celebration at the 2011 AIB Symposium & Awards Program in Washington, D.C., October 6 – 8. That’s less than three weeks from now.  Not registered yet?  There is still time.  Click here to register.