SUSTAINABLE GARDENING NEWS - October 10, 2007

Lespedeza, pink 'Knockout' rose

Finally the geeky set-up work is done and the first edition of Sustainable Gardening News is here. Thanks for subscribing and I welcome your suggestions. It'll be published semi-regularly - how about twice a month?

In The News

Gardenbloggers fight City Hall and Win! They rallied to the defense of a natural gardener in Buffalo - cited for her lack of lawn. The mayor didn't know what hit him when the email campaign got going. The story starts here and includes links to all the updates.

On a roll, gardenbloggers and writers assembled a "white paper" to encourage homeowner associations to adopt more environmentally responsible landscaping rules. A conference call with their trade association and some greening nonprofits started what we hope will be a beautiful partnership. Here's the latest, with links to the background stories.

There was a little tussle when bloggers accused National Public Radio of promoting Round-up - see the reporter's response in the comments. Oh, and the French are hot and bothered about Round-up, too. Here's the story on GardenRant.

Here's some news about cypress mulch - that Wal-Mart has joined the retailers saying nyet to the product. Gardenblogger Stuart Robinson reminds us to keep up the pressure, though.

Euonymus 'Emerald Gaiety'

Plant Heroes of Sustainable Gardening

This feature highlights exceptional plants that you almost can't kill, even with the increasing extremes of precipitation we're having these days. So they're heroes of climate change, too.

Euonymus 'Emerald Gaiety' is well-behaved and brighens up any spot - sun or shade - all year long. Evergreen. Super-drought-tolerant. A head-turner. Here's a profile.

Caryopteris

Caryopteris has been at its peak lately and deserves hero designation for both drought- and disease-resistance. I recently saw a mass of them blooming at the American Hort Society headquarters and they were awesome. Here's more about them.

Tips with Teeth

"Tips, tips, tip" - you see that word all over the Web, so search engine-users must love it, so get your Tips with Teeth are right here. That's my term for tips that are actually hard-won gard ening knowledge, based on my decades in the dirt. First up:

Slow Gardening with the Essential Holding Garden is about what to do with your plants while you're rearranging the garden, and how much more fun (and successful) it is to do all when you're not in a hurry.

Have you Blogged about these Topics or Plants?

Then send me the link! Leyanee DeMerchant, author of Ledge and Gardens, sent me her blog post about bottlebrush buckeye and I included the link on that page. I'mhappy to send traffic your way because it just makes everything more interesting, doncha think?

More New Stuff on this Site

How to Make Concrete Pavers and Free Plants are the first features in the new On a Budget sectio n.

How to Move or Divide a Large Ornamental Grass - because you probably have one that needs it. It's in the new How to Garden section, for which I'd love your suggestions.

Lots of gardening basics have been added to the navigation bar - mulching, weeding, watering, pesticides, and fertilizing. I'm not the expert here, but the compiler of the best current thinking and practices, so I welcome additions and corrections. Help me keep the info current and inclusive of all credible points of view.

My Amazon Store, of course! I know that many sites and blogs now have them, so my goal is to earn your Amazon shopping dollar with content that's useful, inspiring and/or fun. Maybe even all three.

What's in it? It's chockful of gardening books and products I've either read or used or that have been recommended to me. I'm trying my best NOT to recommend bad products or bad advice, especially the toxic kind (Jerry Baker and his ilk on both counts). So let me know if you see something that's not worthy of a nod.