Bats play many positive, essential roles in the ecosystem, says Lee Mackenzie of Austin Bat Refuge – learn how to make your garden hospitable to these good and harmless neighbors
A Rich Source of Native Lawn and Groundcover Plants
Carol Reese Explains Sex in the Garden
Lars Chittka and The Mind of a Bee
Creating a Meadow the Ecological, Easy Way
A Garden Icon’s Disastrous Impact on Our Native Flora
Although beloved by gardeners, earthworms are not native to the northern half of North America and can cause extreme changes in soil ecology there, with disastrous effects on native plants and animals. A recent study Dr. Jérome Mattieu of the Sorbonne and colleagues reveals routes by which 70 species of alien earthworms are spreading throughout the United States
Conversing with Plants
A Fresh Look at Garden Thugs
CowPots – Better for the Environment, Better for the Plants
Amanda Freund of the Freund Dairy Farm describes how her family’s ingenuity has transformed manure from an environmental liability into a source of renewable energy, a means of recycling waste paper and cardboard, and “Cowpots,” a horticulturally superior replacement for environmentally destructive peat pots.
Biopesticides: A Different Approach to Plant Pest Control
Foraging as an Education for Ecological Gardeners
Pinelands Nursery Leads in Adapted, Diverse Native Plant Production
Tom Knezick of Pinelands Nursery, one of the largest producers of native plants in the U.S., tells how his family’s business has mastered growing natives from locally collected seed, producing plants that are genetically diverse and regionally adapted. The nursery industry as a whole claims this is too difficult and labor intensive; Tom describes how Pinelands has succeeded.
Organic Applications to Enhance Stress Resistance and Vigor in the Vegetable Garden
Shubhendu Sharma Plants Tiny Forests Around the World
Garden for Wildlife Makes Selecting the Right Plants Easy
An Extraordinary Online Resource for Native Plants Enthusiasts in Every State
Lady Bird Johnson put native plants on the map with her program to plant wildflowers alongside our nation’s highways in the 1960’s. Her legacy, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, continues to play a key role by providing gardeners with extraordinary and free online resources about selecting and growing native plants in every U.S. state.
Boosting the Ecosystem While Boosting Your Spirits
As the first Executive Director of Homegrown National Park, Brandon Hough talks about his unconventional journey to conservation, and how this non-profit makes it easy for homeowners to find plants that give the maximum boost to the local ecosystem while also, at least in Brandon’s case, relieving eco-grief.
Daryl Beyers Shares a Fresh Approach to Gardening Fundamentals
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Coordinator of the New York Botanical Garden’s Gardening Education Program, Daryl Beyers has developed a fresh approach to teaching the fundamentals of the craft, one that not only provides a strong foundation for novices to go on and build their own skills, but which has proved valuable to experienced practitioners who want to move beyond the old-fashioned, often environmentally harmful practices they absorbed at the beginning of their careers.
Native Annuals of the Eastern United States
Annuals offer unique advantages for the ecological gardener, growing fast to stabilize disturbed soils, and providing quick color for new plantings. In this conversation, master plantsman Ethan Dropkin of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates shares his pick of the best native annuals native to eastern North America.
Thomas Rainer: A Case for Thoughtful Optimism
In 2015 landscape architect Thomas Rainer and his professional partner Claudia West stirred the gardening world with their best-selling book, “Planting in a Post-Wild World.” Now Rainer shares his arguments for thoughtful optimism regarding gardening and its potential impact on our ecological challenges.
