Growing Greener

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.

Dr. Eric Watkins of the University of Minnesota discusses the university's program to create more sustainable lawns that support native bees and other pollinators

Gardener and writer Ginny Stibolt discusses " Climate-Wise Landscaping ," the book she co-authored with landscape architect Sue Reed, and how it can make your personal landscape more resilient and a force for positive environmental change

Innovative farmer Jesse Frost describes his focus on stewardship of the earth in his outstanding and useful new book,  " The Living Soil Handbook "

Los Angeles landscape Architect Greg Kochanowski discusses his study of landscape management in fire-adapted landscapes

Internationally renowned rosarian Stephen Scanniello teaches gardeners how to grow roses without all the chemical pesticides

Ecological landscape designer and consultant Marie Chieppo discusses the report on plastic nursery pots she compiled for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, and the greener alternatives that she is promoting

Artist Robert Adzema talks about his unique sun sculptures and how sundials can fix us in time while serving as a bridge to connect the garden with the heavens

Ecologist Tom Wessels details how he reads the history of forested landscapes from visual clues – "Forest Forensics" – and describes his new book,  New England's Roadside Ecology

Paul Tukey, author of the classic guide,  The Organic Lawn Care Manual , shares his prescription for listening to, and learning from, the weeds in your lawn

Award-winning environmental journalist Fred Pearce discusses his book,  The New Wild , and the positive role he believes that invasive species can play in our changing ecosystems