In an era of rising eco-consciousness, homeowners are gradually moving away from lawns and other heavily irrigated landscapes. The trend is toward xeriscapes, landscapes that are designed for climate they are located in, with plants adapted to thrive on little more than rainfall, and gardens that use efficient irrigation systems like drip systems or, in …
Category Archives: ecology
Why snow cover is good for your garden
Because snow is mostly air, it is an excellent insulator, keeping temperatures stable at around 25 degrees even in sub-zero weather.
Collecting wild plants for gardens: how to forage responsibly
If you like gardening and native plants like I do, you know there are some mixed messages about collecting wild plants. We hear growing native plants is good, but only if they come from reputable commercial nurseries. We’ve learned the harms of picking a wildflower, but give little thought to building with wood, meaning somebody …
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Botanical tourism: bringing plants from Hawaii to the mainland
When I was a kid, my dad sometimes brought me bits of plant life from his work trips around the country. I was more interested in those kinds of souvenirs than anything from an airport gift shop. They were nothing ecologically-sensitive or fancy. Just nuts or seed pods from trees in a public park, or …
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Wealth for worms: what a gardener should understand about soil
Soil is one of the most important concerns for gardeners, so I want to take a moment to address a few basics. It’s the medium into which we add our plants, it’s where non-woody plants retreat when dormant, it’s where water is stored, nutrients are recycled and it is the home for countless bacteria, fungi, …
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