Yes, you can!
Claire Loder did it. She held a funeral for her hedge, so I can definitely grieve for my ornamental grasses. More on that a bit later.
Writing in Gardens Illustrated (October 2025, p.114), Loder talks about an old hedge that had to be removed. It was a sad event for all of the birds, insects and small animals that used the hedge. But it was also a sad event for Loder and her neighbours, thus the funeral. The sadness people feel when nature is lost in their home regions is real.
Solastalgia
Thanks to philosopher Glenn Albrecht, we have a name for the feeling of distress we get when we experience environmental change close to home. Albrecht calls it solastalgia.
I know people experience this on a smaller scale when their favourite trees have to be removed. The Globe & Mail newspaper publishes these stories frequently. A mature tree gets damaged by a storm or gets diseased and has to be removed. In some cases, the owners planted the tree or grew up with it. Now there is a hole, literally and figuratively. People feel the loss.
Missing Miscanthus
Now, we’ve been leaving our ornamental grass cutback until late winter. That way, we can enjoy them as they ornament our landscape, and then we cut them back just as they start growing again. Ornament!
Unfortunately, some people insist on being rebels. We had a worker cut down a beautiful clump of three Miscanthus grasses. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s designed to inspire my blog posts.
This one grass spot was perfect, and then, in a matter of minutes, we were left with three “stumps”. Luckily, unlike Loder’s dead hedge, these grasses will come back in a few months. But still, where was all this anger coming from? Solastalgia! The fact that the grasses were no longer ornamenting the landscape really annoyed me.
You can feel the anger in my voice as I shoot my YouTube short video.
Conclusion
I hope your home region doesn’t experience any drastic environmental changes, but if it does, and you feel bummed out about it, we now have a name for your feelings. Solastalgia!
