plants can't kill zombies!!?!

this article started formulating after once again playing one of my favorite games of all time, plants v/s zombies.

brains!

as i was once again planting virtually to defend my house's honor i got to thinking about all the amazing things i've seen people do with plants that transcend the normal boundaries of the westernised idea of agriculture. my motivation is this thought i've been walking around with for years planted in my mind by my aunt aka crisi creating that entails replacing traditional fences that apparently protect our properties with thorned hedges that will not only keep criminals out, but also scar them if they try anything at all! this concept will work with any kind of thorny shrubs such as climbing roses and can be doubled up as food if you use blackberries for instance. the other bonus to this concept is that we can use the existing structures of those horrible looking palisade fences as a strong existing growing frame for these hedges.

you must understand that johannesburg is a dangerous place just like any other city in the world but for some reason we have all gotten it into our minds that drawing little boxes around our stuff is the way forward. as you can probably infer by my tone, i don't like this at all and don't have a fence around my own house! i find it insulting that the only thing you see now driving down a suburban road in my city is a corridor of 10 foot walls and the occasional sidewalk flowerbed rather than appreciating the homes and gardens around you. on top of that aesthetic faux pas it's also not as safe as people think, keeping criminals inside your property as much as it keeps them out. we also suffer from isolation as very few people in this city still know their neighbors since they too share in this debilitating trend that has hit my country post apartheid. seriously!? is this what we really feel about ourselves and our country?

so here is my list of amazing things you can do with plants, partly because there are images in this world worth sharing and partly to sow the seed of change in the minds of some. :)

we CAN change this world if we choose to and in my opinion this will start only when you begin to embrace the beauty of your environment rather than perpetuating it's fears. down with the walls!!!

love this fence! stunning to look at and useful as most of the plants are edible or medicinal, you get the idea :)

this is so south african to me, reminds me of the farm... also, cacti are fast growing and some even have poisonous spines, kry vir jou burglars!!

another beautiful cactus fence, nobody is getting through that without a fight.

  

this is beautiful! and if these elephants were covered in thorns i think they might be as formidable as their mammalian counterparts, they already look like you wouldn't be able to get past :)

 

creative approach to high fencing. i must say that anyone who has ever attempted to get through a hedge of this size will know that it's impossible... this will take you a few years though

oh the french!

 

i had to add this for it's pure splendor! this is stunning!! not very practical i know, but if this doesn't get the creative juices flowing, i don't know what will

your house could even become a tourist attraction :)

  

and finally, here's one for the skeptics! 

  peace!