Sustainable Gardening News

Photo by White House Photographer Chuck Kennedy

The Fight for School Gardens and Healthier School Foods highlights crazy anti-food rules in one county and a big legislative push in D.C.
A Manhattan designer explores the native/exotic dilemma in "Designing the Politically Correct Garden". Great comments and absolutely NO consensus.
Great discussion ensued over street trees, especially "When Greens go NIMBY" over them. And more about street trees here.
Chicago's Mayor Daley pushes green roofs, as reported on The Growing Edge.
Does this count as urban gardening? It's How to Love thy Neighbor, Post-Blizzard.
Corporate Urban Greening, no Greenwashing Allowed highlights great projects in Baltimore and D.C.

Does Lawn Have to be Green All Winter? is my reaction to this painted lawn in California. The California lawn activist just wants "Peace on Turf".
Martha Stewart gets Fact-Checked by Hort Professor - and I'm so glad they're helping us non-academics figure it all out.
Are Natives the Answer? asks Garden Prof Bert Cregg. His own answer is: "Not necessarily." Provocative stuff!
The White House Grounds ARE Greening - and it looks like ALL federal landscapes will soon be greened up, too.
Good news from EPA - plus good news about the overturning of a bad EPA move.
I reviewed "The World According to Monsanto" and found it really important, but dull watching.
Are your spring bulbs coming up already? Not to worry, says gardening educator Gene Sumi.

I'm pretty excited about the garden-related trips I'll be taking this year. First to Long Island to visit Suzy Bales with a day trip to the NY Botanic Garden in the spring. And I wouldn't miss the super-fun Blogger Meet-up in Buffalo. Then the GardenRanters are talking to garden centers at their shinding in Chicago. I'm also pondering a trip to the Boston area, and still undecided on going to Dallas for the Garden Writers conference.

Venturing into video turns out to be complicated, as I recount in How (Not) to buy a Camcorder.
Though I was able to cobble together "National Arboretum in Winter" using a program called Photo Story.

The Hottest Garden Rants of '09 were hotter than ever.
Here's my review of the Renegade Gardener's Black Spot/High Spot Awards for '09.
Also on GardenRant, Elizabeth's Year in Gardening.
Top Sustainable Food Stories of 2009 include the White House Kitchen Garden, and lots about urban farming. Food stories are increasingly food-growing stories.

Before/after clearing snow from an 'Ogon' spirea.

Berries for Bloom Day - coz what else are you going to show off in mid-December?
The death of my Aidrondack Chairs, as tragic as that was, led to my Hunt for Long-Lasting, Eco-Friendly Chairs and finding some great choices.
And it's time to give away the never-used chimnea. Brief follow-up: A nice young man who lives on my street came and took the chimnea - and promptly dropped it, turning it to shards. It now sits on the curb awaiting its new home - the landfill, forever.
And in my neighborhood, the low-maintenance, New-American-Garden-style Priscilla's garden. (That's immigration lawyer Priscilla Labovitz, and hubs Joe Cirincione is a popular spokesman for nuclear arms control.)