By Emma Marris
In October of 2013, I toured three miles of disused railroad line in Philadelphia. The entire line was covered with spontaneous vegetation alive with butterflies and ladybugs. Here nature was showing us her resilience and her wild beauty and offering to meet us where most of us live now, in the city. What is tricky about urban wildness is what I call the High Line Problem.
By Tricia Diggins
Ten years ago I wrote an article about sheet mulching that highlighted a project in the Alexandra Botanic Gardens of Wellesley College. It was so interesting to revisit the project ten years later and to see if the sheet mulching solution stood the test of time and kept the turfgrass at bay. One of the unexpected benefits of smothering the turfgrass was that it allowed native plants to naturally form a thriving plant community.
by Jamie Purinton & Marc Wolf
Mountain Top Arboretum was designed to mimic and compliment the wondrous native plant communities of New York’s Catskill Mountains. Habitats such as wet meadows and seeps, woodland edges, and bedrock alpine communities completely guided the style and content of the plantings and the stonework. Teamwork combining design, planting, stormwater management, and a focus on educating the public culminated in a landscape that can be resilient through all types of weather.
by Eloise Gayer
Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania is well known for its abundance of mature trees and horticultural displays. In 2001 the Arboretum began the restoration of a drained wetland that would not only serve as a blueprint for other wetland restoration projects but also create more educational opportunities for the entire community. Learn about the history of this wetland, that was farmland at the turn of the century then one hundred years later was reverted back into a natural wetland.
Hosted by Dan Jaffe Wilder
Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS) is 8000 acres of forests, meadows, and wildlands, which is managed and maintain for the benefit of native plants and animals of New England. As the Sanctuary works on re-opening plans, a tour of the property is a wonderful respite from pandemic lockdown.
Hosted by Kristin Andres
Take a walk on the wild side of Cape Cod. Located in Dennis, MA the Association to Preserve Cape Cod has built a wonderful garden to show residents of Cape Cod how beautiful and easy it is to plant and maintain a native garden. With veggie demonstration gardens and rain gardens, there really is a garden solution for every obstacle a gardener might face.
Hosted by Marie Chieppo
Avery Park, a busy commuter rail station park becomes a native plant oasis for people and pollinators alike. Follow Needham based landscape designer Marie Chieppo’s journey through a barren weed-infested plot to a popular garden gathering spot that is doing double duty during the COVID pandemic as a great place to socialize while staying six feet apart.
by Madeline Banks First Things First Any kind of prescribed burning has a lot of thought and careful planning behind it. Everything from safety to environmental impact need to be considered to ensure that a burn is beneficial, not detrimental.
2017 Conference Session Review by David Falk Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, PA grew out of a large family estate with intricate gardens created for the family’s pleasure. Now open to the public, Chanticleer stays true to its origins as a pleasure garden, but its purpose also seems to be to expand that idea to include…
by Darrah Cole The Greenway horticulture staff is excited to have new, innovative planting designs installed along the length of The Greenway in downtown Boston, MA. Two narrow parcels along Surface Road near South Station and two others in the North End Park along Cross Street have been planted to create the end points of…
Public and private gardens are a source of beauty and inspiration any time of year, but especially in the full bloom of summer. That’s also the time many of us travel to unfamiliar locales for graduation parties, weddings, and family reunions. During your travels, consider scheduling an excursion to a local garden.
by Ronnit Bendavid-Val As parks and gardens get more and more use by the public especially in our urban areas, many places are seeing increasing effects of this heavier use on the horticultural elements of our gardens. While it’s exciting that our culture is putting greater value on our green spaces, the effects of substantially…
