Biodiversity
Why Locally-Sourced, Locally-Grown Native Plants Matter
Have you visited your local farmer’s market lately or picked up your weekly allotment at a CSA? If you are a locavore, like so many of us, you might be asking some pretty specific questions of your suppliers when you are vetting your food choices, such as: Where was this food grown? How far is the farm from here? Where…
Read MoreSelling the Sizzle, Not Just the Steak: Promoting Native Landscapes
While meeting with a client who knows nothing about native plants and their benefits, I find myself recommending some great native plants for their landscape. As I rattle off names of possible plants, I notice the puzzled look I get from the client. Did I comb my hair this morning? Do I have spinach stuck in between my teeth? Am…
Read MoreEcological Gardening Tips for Spring
As spring begins in earnest, pause for a moment before rushing off to the nursery or garden center to shop for plants. First, consider how the steps you take and the choices you make can increase the health of your landscape and the environment around you. Here are some tips to get you started: 1) Do a soil test before you…
Read MoreSafely Killing the Green Desert (The Lawn!)
You’ve decided to be a good ecological steward of your landscape and reduce or replace your lawn. Kudos to you on making the decision to remove the “green desert,” hopefully, replacing it with those ecological workhorses – native plants. If every homeowner and landscape pro made this simple step, we would see vast improvements in biodiversity and ecological health. But…
Read MoreGoing Pesticide-Free for Pollinators at The Farm Between
This past August, I took a road trip to one of my favorite states, Vermont, where lots of good things are happening with organic and pesticide-free landscapes and nursery production. One of my stops was “The Farm Between” in pastoral Jeffersonville, Vermont. This is one of the oldest farms in the area, dating back to the early 1800s; it used…
Read More