Growing Greener

Jeanine Scheffert, co-chair of the Community Seed Network details the ways in which her organization can help gardeners to achieve success in seed saving and sharing and join a community of like-minded gardeners

James Golden's new book, "The View from Federal Twist: A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves" delivers in full everything the title promises.  In this conversation, the author discusses the birth and evolution of his remarkable garden, and how it changed him and his relationship to his landscape.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser is fascinated by the insects in our gardens, the vast majority of whom play positive roles in these domesticated ecosystems.  We discuss the fruits of her studies and the new, updated edition of her award-winning book, "Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, a Natural Approach to Pest Control."  Learn how your landscaping can bolster the work of these essential...

In 2017 Benjamin Vogt captivated the gardening world with his book, "A New Garden Ethic," in which he explored the need to radically redesign our domestic landscapes to accommodate all the other creatures of North America.  Since then this award-winning author, horticulturist, and educator has been promoting this message in the gardens he designs, his many articles and talks, and his on-line class...

Gardening can be the heart of a community, as the Rochester, Minnesota Seed Library demonstrates.  Librarian Keri Ostby describes how the seed library brings together vegetable seeds for all the groups within the community, providing a source of superior fresh foods and for exploring mutual foodways.  By encouraging seed saving the seed library also fosters the development of locally adapted strai...

Alina Harris of the Xerces Society discusses the ecological importance of invertebrates, and how you can use your mower more strategically to convert a field to a thriving pollinator meadow without herbicides

Bill Melvin of Ecoscape Environmental Design in Boulder, Colorado discusses appropriate management of the human landscape in a region where wildfire is endemic.  What were the lessons for gardeners in the recent Marshall Fire, and how can they adapt their craft to better suit the dynamics of their local environment?

What is a naturalistic garden and how does it differ from a natural landscape?  Duncan Brine is a principal with his wife Julia Brine of Garden Large , a garden design firm based in Pawling, New York.  In our conversation, he discusses his concept of naturalistic gardening, the way it informs his design work, and how it has shaped the remarkable 6-acre garden he and Julia have created around their...

Struggling with a wet spot in your yard?  Join John Courtney of Kind Earth Growers to learn how to turn this difficulty into an asset.  John has more than 20 years of experience in growing native plants adapted to wet soils.  From collecting seed in the wild to mixing special soil blends, he understands wetland natives special cultural needs, and savors their special beauty.  Let John help you tra...

The flowers in your garden are not, as gardeners often think, aesthetic statements, they are invitations for sex. Ranging from plant incest to the brutality of dragonfly sex, Carol Reese, distinguished horticultural educator at the University of Tennessee, shares insights on the curious aspects of sexual relations between plants and the role that wildlife plays in promoting it.

Sam Hoadley, Mount Cuba Center's Director of Horticultural Research deliberately neglects his plants.  His responsibility is to conduct the trials by which this renowned botanical garden in Hockessin, Delaware tests native plants to see which are garden stars – and attractive to pollinators – and which are garden and pollination duds.  After selecting a popular genus, Sam and his crew collect all...

Dr. Philip Kauth, Director of Preservation, describes the history and activities of the Seed Savers Exchange, and how this remarkable organization is preserving tens of thousands of vegetable and fruit varieties that otherwise would have been lost.

Native plants enthusiasts Kristen Nicholson, Britt Drews, and Jasmin Callahan were frustrated by the lack of nearby sources on biodiverse, locally adapted plants.  So they started their own nursery, growing the plants from locally collected seeds.  Today Blue Stem Natives is a horticultural phenomenon and a haven for ecological gardeners in southeastern Massachusetts.    

Dr. Jared Westbrook of the American Chestnut Foundation explores a controversial subject:  the use of genetic engineering by his foundation to create blight-resistant American chestnut trees and return this once iconic species to the eastern woodlands

How to introduce Sefra Alexandra, "the Seed Huntress"?  She's an agroecological educator with a masters degree from Cornell University and she's worked as an ethnobotanist all around the world, including in her home town of Southport, Connecticut.  Sefra's a "BOATanist" who plants seed-grown natives along riparian corridors by canoe, and she's a member of The Explorers Club.  Currently Sefra is al...

Eric Fleisher of F2 Environmental Design has been breaking new ground – literally ­– ever since he first began converting New York public landscapes to organic management 30 years ago.  By building up and managing the soil, and treating the landscape as a holistic system, he eliminates the needs for chemical inputs and turns garden wastes into an environmental resource. In this way he has transfor...

Being in the moment is a challenge in our busy, too-connected age, yet it is essential for appreciating and understanding the garden.   Poet Susan Brearley shares her practice for mindfulness: the on-the-spot composition of garden haiku.  Brearley, who has been teaching haiku workshops at the great Innisfree garden in Millbrook, New York, shares the basics of this classic Japanese poetic form, alo...

Do you hate the noise and stink of gasoline-powered blowers and mowers rampaging through your neighborhood?  Matthew Benzie of Indigenous Ingenuities in Doylestown, Pennsylvania is doing something about that.  He's switched his maintenance crew to zero-emission, quiet, battery-powered equipment transported on a bicycle-powered cart.  He's designing his landscapes for greener, sustainable maintenan...

Brooklyn's famous cemetery builds on its heritage, becoming a community green space, an arboretum, and a center for environmental research

Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society details ways to get the garden ready for winter without harming over-wintering insects and other foundational wildlife

"Food Forests" are a central concept of Permaculture – in our discussion of his must-have new book, Sustainable Food Gardens , Robert Kourik details where Permaculture goes wrong, and explains how his book corrects the food forest for the North American landscape.

Looking to reconnect with nature?  Try Brooklyn Bridge Park, six concrete shipping piers on New York's East River transformed into a series of vibrant ecosystems rich with native wildlife.  Director of Horticulture Rebecca McMackin describes how salvaged materials make this 85-acre, organically maintained landscape sustainable as well as beautiful. 

Dr. Josef Gorres of the University of Vermont discusses the environmental threat posed by invasive Asian Jumping Worms and the methods he is exploring for their control in our forests and gardens

Forest steward Adrian Ayres Fisher describes the profound impact that uncontrolled deer populations have on native woodlands and their ecology

Carol Bouska describes the process she and her three sisters have followed in transforming the family farm in northeastern Iowa into a model of regenerative agriculture.  They are sequestering carbon in the soil, reducing water pollution, and nurturing wildlife while also building community and reinforcing family ties.