Growing Greener

My quest for tomatoes that will bear in my cool, cloudy climate led me to Dr. James Myers of Oregon State University.   He shared with me the cultivars he had bred for that purpose, then described a program to produce vegetables better adapted to organic cultivation, and his collaboration with chefs

Horticultural Educator Carol Reese explains why feeding your garden in springtime with a "complete" fertilizer can be a mistake, and describes a "lazy" style of gardening that can help heal the environment while drastically reducing your work.

Plant explorers, once the rock stars of the horticultural world, have suffered a loss of status as gardeners turn to native plants.   Listen to plant explorer extraordinaire Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanic Gardens discuss why his quest is still important to making our gardens more sustainable, as well as beautiful.

Gratify your Indiana Jones fantasies by joining the Plant Conservation Volunteers.   Your work will have you hiking into overlooked corners of the wild to monitor surviving populations of rare and endangered native plants, and work with landowners to combat threats.

Are your beloved native plants actually "noxious weeds"?  Too often town or homeowner association officers say yes and invoke anti-weed ordinances to force gardeners back to old-fashioned lawns and foundation plantings.  Listen to attorney and native plants advocate Rosanne Plante tell you how you can fight back, and win.

Starting plants from seed is economical and opens up a world of species and cultivars you'll never find in the garden center.  Seed starting is also easy and fun if you use the winter-sowing technique that Dolly Foster teaches. 

Since 1827, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has been leading the way in American gardening.  Listen this week as its Vice President of Horticulture, Andrew Bunting, describes the trends to look for in 2023, and why sustainability concerns are at the top of the list.

Michael Starkey understands that not everyone shares his enthusiasm for snakes, but as founder and Executive Director of Save the Snakes he believes that humans and snakes, even venomous snakes, can coexist.  As a wildlife biologist, Michael shares techniques for making your landscape less – or more – attractive to snakes and how education can protect against snake bites and enhance your enjoyment...

In the early years of the 20th century an introduced fungal blight killed an estimated 4 billion American chestnut trees, effectively eliminating what had been a foundational species of eastern North American woodlands.  Scientist Andrew Newhouse of the State University of New York explains how his university is preparing to release a race of American chestnuts genetically engineered to withstand...

Popular gardener and garden blogger Helen Battersby of Toronto, Canada describes the impact of Ontario's ban of pesticide use for ornamental purposes in this conversation from 2020

Award-winning garden designer and writer Tony Spencer introduces the New Perennial Movement that has brought a revolutionary naturalistic ethic to gardens worldwide

Combining native plants gardening with land preservation and a museum of extraordinary regionally focused art has made the Brandywine Conservancy a unique celebration of the local landscape.  Join Horticultural Coordinator Mark Gormel as he explains how this all begins with locally collected seeds, and how home gardeners can duplicate this in their own back yards.

One of the most important events of my gardening year is the extraordinary collection of gardeners, designers, and ecologists who assemble to exchange ideas every January at the New Directions in the American Landscape's two-day annual symposium.  Join executive director of NDAL, Sara Weaner, to learn about this year's line-up of extraordinary speakers and topics.  It's a don't miss opportunity

One of the great success stories of American wildlife, black bears are returning throughout their historic range and even moving into the suburbs.  Confrontations with human inhabitants have fed calls for hunting seasons to curb their numbers.  Wildlife ecologist Laura Simon explains why this is unlikely to resolve the problem, and shares proven strategies for reducing black bear problems

Join Collin Thompson, the Farm Manager at Johnny's Selected Seeds, as he discusses how planting "cover crops" in your garden can benefit not only the health of the soil and the plants you grow on it but also enhance pollinator populations and curb weeds, all while reducing your carbon footprint and fighting the spread of plant pests and diseases

Hedgerows, informal borders of intermingled shrubs and trees, are a familiar feature of the British countryside, serving not only to enclose farmers' fields but also providing a refuge for wildlife and a source of foods for humans, birds, and pollinators alike.  Dr. Annabel Renwick, the curator of native plants at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina, describes how she is using sout...

Dr. Leigh Whittinghill of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station is extending that storied institution's research into a new landscape:  the rooftops of Connecticut's city neighborhoods.  Enhancing city-dwellers' diet can also benefit the local environment

Mike Lizotte, the "Seedman" of American Meadows and High Country Gardens discusses his companies' program to provide locally adapted wildflower and native grass seed mixes throughout the United States, and the growing enthusiasm among gardeners nationwide for environmentally beneficial plantings

In his fascinating new book, "The Mind of a Bee," Dr. Lars Chittka explores not only bees' ability to learn and process information, but also the evidence that individual bees possess distinctive personal psychologies.  His research transformed my understanding of pollinators and enriched my garden experience.

One of my favorite gardening tools is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the #1 resource for gardeners who want to know more about the birds in their landscapes.  Join Dr. Emma Greig to explore the apps and online courses the Lab offers to help you identify and foster feathered visitors, and citizen science programs you can support to promote bird conservation.

Senior and physically challenged gardeners have a special interest in sustainable landscapes, according to Toni Gattone, author of The Lifelong Gardener: Garden With Ease and Joy At Any Age.  Join her for guidance on everything from saving your back by reducing resource inputs to ergonomically adapting favorite tools.

Native garden designer and pollinator ecologist Alicia Houk details how incorporating reseeding native annuals makes your garden self-healing, weed-resistant, more colorful, and more wildlife friendly

Cathy Ludden epitomizes the role individual gardeners can play in transforming their local landscapes to meet our current environmental challenges.  An avid student of native plants and wildlife, she has worked with great success at a personal, neighborhood, and county level to make her community biologically richer, ecologically healthier –and more beautiful.

Inheritor of a century-old family tradition of supplying the best spring-flowering bulbs to American gardeners, Brent Heath details the important role that they can play in today's sustainable gardens.  Flourishing without the use of chemicals, these plants furnish reliable early spring color and food for early season pollinators; follow Brent's growing tips and your bulbs will return year after y...

Fostering wildlife and native plants – making our landscapes contributors to the local ecosystem – has become a goal of so many gardeners.  In her new book, "Wild By Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration," Laura J. Martin traces how this became so.  Introducing a remarkable band of ecologically minded pioneers, many of them women, Martin describes how this consciousness spread through the lan...