Love Quote by Mike Thompson

“Wax myrtle: The birds love this stuff” is the kind of line that slips into public life wearing the harmless costume of gardening advice, then quietly does political work. Coming from a politician, it reads like an offhand aside at a ribbon-cutting, a park walk, a campaign stop staged in the safe terrain of “local issues.” The intent is practical on the surface: plant this, it attracts birds. But the subtext is reputational: I notice small things; I’m rooted here; I care about what lives in your backyard.

It’s also a tiny masterclass in constituency-building. “The birds” functions as an easy proxy for “the environment” without triggering the ideological tripwires that “climate policy” can. Wildlife enthusiasm is a bipartisan language; it’s hard to get mad at birds. Wax myrtle itself matters because it’s a native, resilient plant in many regions, the kind of choice that signals stewardship and competence rather than performative greenness. No sweeping promises, just a species that thrives.

The phrasing “this stuff” is doing a lot. It’s colloquial, unserious, deliberately unpolished - a strategic anti-soundbite. Politicians are often accused of speaking in pre-approved templates; this sounds like someone talking, not “messaging.” And that’s the context: in an era of distrust, the easiest way to project authenticity is to shrink the frame. If you can be trusted about shrubs, the line implies, maybe you can be trusted about the bigger, messier things too.