Growing Greener

Policy makers have promoted tree planting as a way to sequester carbon and fight climate change, but grassland advocates say that native prairie is more effective in some circumstances and provides unique ecological benefits.   Dr. Jessica Gutknecht of the University of Minnesota examines the opportunities and limitations of this approach, and the potential impact of backyard prairies such as her...

Gardening consumes an enormous amount of plastics, 1.66 billion pounds annually in the U.S. according to the most recent figures, most of it in the form of single-use, unrecyclable pots.   Ecological landscape designer Marie Chieppo has made it her mission to change this.   Learn about how her work is promoting recycling, changes in design to use less plastic, and a switch where possible to biodeg...

His participation in a Bioblitz introduced Brian Stewart to the fascination of the local insect life.   A dozen years later he had photographed some 400 species in his own back yard, including many strange and beautiful creatures.   Brian shares his story and tips for insect identification in this program first broadcast in November of 2019

If you are frustrated by the poor selection of native plants at local garden centers, check out Izel Native Plants.   Listen as founders and owners Amanda McLean and Claudio Vasquez explain how they have made the wares of leading wholesale growers accessible to amateur gardeners, and how their company emphasizes education as much as sales.

Maya K. van Rossum shares what she observed at the recent trial in Montana, where 16 young natives of that state charged the legislature with deliberately violating the guarantee of "a clean and healthful environment…for present and future generations" in Montana's state constitution

Gardening is changing, and our understanding of the field must keep pace. Veteran horticulturist and longtime teacher Joe Seals rises to this challenge in his new book, "Back to the New Basics: A Practical Guide and New Reference Manual to the Ways, the Whys, and the New Sciences of Better, Easier Gardening." A great introduction for the novice and a quick update for experienced gardeners, this is...

This week, in a re-posting of a program first heard in August 2021, ecologist and author Tom Wessels discusses his "Forest Forensics," the system of simple visual clues you can use to read the history of your woodland acreage

As our climates grow warmer and frequently drier, gardeners need the drought and heat tolerance, and innate sustainability of our native grassland plants more than ever.   In their new book, The Gardener's Guide to Prairie Plants , Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox have combined their decades of experience to produce an indispensable tool for beginners and veterans alike, with invaluable advice about how...

"Grow Your Own" is a cornerstone of sustainability, but our vegetable gardens are being challenged by increasingly erratic weather as the climate changes.   John Traunfeld, Program Director at the University of Maryland's Home & Garden Information Center shares his experiences in making food gardens more climate resilient, and how this can even draw our communities closer together.

Lead contamination is common in soils of many residential neighborhoods in urban, suburban, and even rural settings.   Soil scientist Clay Robinson – "Dr. Dirt" – details where this problem is most likely, how to test your soil, and how appropriate gardening can provide protection.

Artist Robert Adzema discusses his history of creating ingenious and innovative sundials, and what sundials can teach the gardener about plants' primary fuel.

Dan Jaffe Wilder's response to the polluting sterility of the traditional lawn?   Plant strawberries.   And that's only one of many intriguing – and tested - proposals made by this talented native plants pioneer.  

Robert Kourik, a pioneer of sustainable gardening, draws on his 45 years of experience with Permaculture to explore the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial gardening movement

Will "volcano mulch" the landscaper piled around the bases of your trees kill them?   And is a mulch made of ground-up shipping pallets really beneficial for your plants?   You may be surprised by the science-based insights about common organic mulches that Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University shares in the most recent "Growing Greener."

Ecological gardening leader Larry Weaner details how you can get all the benefits of conventional mulch, plus boosting biodiversity and wildlife, with a well-designed and beautiful groundcover of native plants

Maya K. van Rossum discusses Green Amendments for the Generations, the movement she founded to bring an amendment to every state constitution guaranteeing residents' basic human right to clean air and water, and a healthy environment

John Walker, a horticulturist who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and a multi award winner environmental writer, shares advice on Veganic Gardening, an approach that combines organic practices with plant-based nurturing of the soil with resources found or grown on-site for maximum sustainability.

Buying topsoil is a quick and popular fix for many garden problems – but buyer beware says Dawn Pettinelli, Director of the University of Connecticut's Soil & Nutrient Analysis Lab.   There are no industry standards, not even a definition, of what makes a good topsoil. Dawn shares tips on making sure the topsoil you buy is non-toxic and of a quality that will benefit your plants.

"Gardeners are the worst threat to native plants."   Hostility toward horticulturists is common within the ecological restoration community. But, John Gedraitis of Van Berkum Nursery says, it's an impediment to growers such as him who want to expand the availability of local ecotype plants, genetically adapted natives grown from locally collected wild seed.

Elizabeth Licata, a passionate promoter of Garden Walk Buffalo, the nation's largest free open garden tour, and a longtime contributor to the popular blog "Garden Rant" takes on gardener anthropomorphism, our appealing but destructive habit of ascribing human emotions and characteristics to plants.

Landscape architects Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden electrified the gardening world in 1975 when they introduced a new horticultural richness and a concern for sustainability with their "New American Garden Style."   Eric Groft, current CEO of Oehme, van Sweden discusses the firm's new book, "Beyond Bold," describing how the successor generation has remained true to that legacy while pursuing...

Dr. Douglas Tallamy, the University of Delaware entomologist who has been awakening homeowners to the need to plant natives and join our plots together in a giant "homegrown national park," has found a new audience.   He has just released a young readers' edition of his best-selling book, "Nature's Best Hope."   Learn how you can enlist your children in the campaign to save our ecosystems.

Founded in 2013 by internationally acclaimed garden designer Edwina von Gal, the Perfect Earth Project seeks to introduce landscape professionals to toxin-free, sustainable approaches to their craft, while reaching out to their customers to create a market for these skills.   Listen to the Project's new Executive Director Matt Jeffery discuss the many new programs the organization is pursuing.

Jeff Lorenz, founder of the acclaimed Refugia Design Build, explains why the pandemic was a boom time for a landscaper committed to native plants, and how his firm's " Ecological Greenway Network" is transforming neighborhoods

Nebraskan Benjamin Vogt, a leader in nature-based gardening, has just published Prairie Up , a book that is sure to become a go-to tool for those designing and installing landscapes rooted in our native grassland flora.   With its many insights how the dynamics of native plants will shape a native landscape, Prairie Up offers invaluable lessons to nature-based gardeners everywhere