An unhealthy environment should not be the price of a beautiful landscape. Inappropriate plant choices and inadequate soil preparation can lead to a reliance on excessive use of water and on toxic chemicals to resolve problems. Ecological landscaping encourages practices that promote a healthy environment through conservation of resources, respect for biodiversity, and ecologically-sound techniques.
Written by Carol Garcie, Princeton University Press, 2020
Reviewed by Maureen Sundberg
Carol Gracie’s admiration and affection for the flowers she researches and photographs is evident on every page of her new book Summer Wildflowers of the Northeast. Those familiar with the thoughtfully detailed life histories of plants in Gracie’s Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast will recognize in this companion volume her wide-ranging mix of the natural history of species and spectacular photography.
by Russ Cohen
A newly daylighted stream at Willard’s Woods in Lexington, MA presented a serendipitous opportunity for introduction of edible native plants to the conservation area. At a double session focused on propagating and planting edible native plant species, Russ Cohen and co-presenter Georgia Hann included this 2017 project at ELA’s 2020 Conference & Eco-Marketplace in March. Here, Russ follows up the conference session with a deeper dive into the Willard’s Woods project.
Written by Doug Tallamy; Published by Timber Press February 2020
Reviewed by Angela Tanner
As the world hunkers down in the midst of a pandemic, Doug Tallamy’s latest book Nature’s Best Hope offers, as the title suggest, hope, and we all need a little of that. Drawing topics from his earlier book Bringing Nature Home, Tallamy explains, with examples and statistics, what is happening to the ecological systems around us, and why we should care.
by Steve Cushman
One of the most important chores for tool maintenance is keeping cutting edges sharp; however, sharpening can cover a huge realm of techniques and tools. Find out about techniques requiring only a small investment in tools, and you’ll have your garden tools in perfect shape as the season starts – and perhaps be inspired to keep them that way.
by Jared Green
Meg Calkins, professor of landscape architecture at North Carolina State University and founding member of the Sustainable SITES Initiative®, reports on the progress of SITES, including areas such as materials reuse in which progress still needs to be made.
by Adrian Ayres Fisher
Gardeners new to the concept of carbon gardening often ask these two questions: What good soil management strategies will help maximize carbon sequestration? And, what would be a good plant palette to help accomplish this? Good questions. Read the article.
by Robert Kourik
You say you want to garden all-naturally, but the closest source of animal manure is many miles away? Then green manuring might be for you. Green manuring is the process of tilling fresh green plants into the soil to help make it drain better and allow it to hold onto more moisture, with an added bonus – the plants, as they decay, act as a readily available fertilizer. Green manuring is also pretty darn close to free fertilizer – discounting the cost of a few seeds and plenty of elbow grease. Learning how the natural cycle of decomposition works means you’ll know exactly what part of the cycle to influence, how to speed up the natural processes, and how to improve the soil in either the short or the long term.
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by Robert Schindelbeck, Aaron Ristow, Kirsten Kurtz, Lindsay Fennell, and Harold van Es
In general, soil health and soil quality are considered synonymous and can be used interchangeably, with one key distinction conceptualized by scientists and practitioners over the last decades: soil quality includes both inherent and dynamic quality.
by Keith Zaltzberg and Jim Newman
In the Fall of 2020, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is scheduled to release the Massachusetts Healthy Soils Action Plan (MA HSAP). This ambitious plan seeks to protect and build the economic and ecological resilience of the Commonwealth through exceptional soil stewardship and will consider all major land use types, including forest, wetland, turf and managed greenspace, highly impervious built landscapes, and agriculture.
by Amanda Sloan
Many landscape professionals realize they are in a unique position both to notice changes to the local environment resulting from greenhouse gas emissions and to propose and enact creative solutions to counteract those changes. In 2018, ELA began discussion at the board level about what kinds of practical tools could be developed and promulgated to help landscape professionals transition to methods that do not cause greenhouse gas emissions. Subsequently, the ELA’s Carbon Working Group was formed and is looking for input.
by Shannon Currey
It finally clicked. Working with grasses, I knew about the distinction between warm season and cool season. I had written about it and included it in presentations. But it took a webinar on native, warm-season grasses to understand how magical and fascinating that distinction is.
Landscape clients and home gardeners are increasingly interested in native plants, but are all native plants equally beneficial in the landscape? “Local ecotype” native plants, those cultivated in environmental conditions similar to their local source, offer certain advantages. What is your interest in local ecotype plants?
