Design

I've been thinking quite a bit about 'sustainable gardening' lately.  I promote (what I consider) are sustainable gardening practices in the classes I teach -- minimal inputs of water, fuel, pesticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers, don't let leaves leave your property, don't kill things, promote diversity, plant mostly natives, think naturalistic planting design, minimize areas devoted to lawn, etc.  We've been happy with our 'natural garden' created with this approach in our own home landscape in the Piedmont of South Carolina.  And we're continuing this in our second home in the mountains (where we'll probably 'retire'), where we're populating the slope around our small mountain house with native understory shrubs along with native trees. Vegetable gardening is a bit more problematic;  vegetables, by their domesticated nature, are nutrient and water hogs, so the gardener is ALWAYS grubbing around for more sources of organi...

I gave a talk this evening for a group of Master Gardeners about 'Gardening in Tune with Nature.' It's my stump speech, for sure, changed and honed over the last 15 years. I updated it again this morning. It's about gardening to support wildlife, restoring the ecology of your (back and front) yard, and attempts to inspire folks to think about planting more native plants as well as pollinator-friendly and wildlife-friendly non-natives. I make the point that increased biodiversity in planting results in more wildlife diversity. But I'm beginning to think I also need to talk about what makes natural plant communities function well, too. Hmm. I provide lists of great plants to add to gardens in our region, and hopefully was persuasive. What's good for restoring the ecology of your backyard (Noah's Garden) is not normally what horticulture marketing wants you to buy.

It was a lovely and mild fall day (exceptionally mild, to be sure, for the end of October). My morning 'work' involved taking new SC Master Naturalists around the Garden for a couple of hours. Woo-hoo! I wasn't behind my computer in the office (darn), and I was delighted with the opportunity to share the Garden with these folks. Gardens are wonderful places for people to connect with nature in a friendly place (ours is almost 300 acres and includes not only managed gardens, but also woods, streams and ponds, meadows, and an arboretum). And gardening is more often than not a portal into an expanding interest in nature and wildlife. Birds, butterflies, bees, toads, garter snakes, woodchucks (hmm), rabbits, beneficial insects, other insects, etc., etc. visit a wildlife-friendly garden. Natural habitats have become more and more fragmented and disturbed, so our wildlife-oriented gardens, especially those that are full of native plants, become important connections between...

Restoring nature isn't easy, nor is it always possible. It's what we need to do, in our communities, gardens, and home landscapes, however. So, I was glad to read a story in the NY Times today about a significant restoration project in Manhattan. Nature is resilient, but today, needs help to restore a semblance of what's 'natural.'