Sustainable Gardening News

What's New?

• Don't forget to submit your comments on the Sustainable Sites Initiative by January 11.
• A new report confirms our increasingly crazy precipitation patterns — especially in the Mid-Atlantic and New England. Yep, sounds about right to us gardeners.
• Check out Kathy Purdy's review of the new book Grow Organic. She found it friendly and nonjudgmental — just what we need.
• Graham Rice reviews a book called New Gardening, all about composting, feeding pollinators, permeable membranes — all the sexy stuff. Seriously, I'm dying to know what they're saying in the UK about gardening in a changing climate. The author is curator at a Royal Hort Society garden.
• First, this review of a new book about native plants by Doug Tallamy, then Tallamy answers some readers questions. Next I gave this report of a talk he gave on the subject, and finally, we explore what Allan Armitage has to say about natives. Lots of meaty comments — no surprise.
• Another post poses the larger question of whether gardening is in harmony with nature.
• Here's my review of Michael Dirr's new book about Virburnums, an amazing group of shrubs that are perfect for today's gardeners — drought-tolerant and great for wildlife.
• Trees for Christmas? Get Real! — that's the bottom line on the real-or-fake question. I'm just surprised there's still any doubt on the question.

New Plant Profiles

No surprise for December, they're all evergreens, and right about now I'm damn happy to have 'em.

• Dwarf white pines are awesome all year.
• Cherry laurels are praised as unsung plants that contribute big-time to the garden.
• Deodar cedars are stunning with snow on their long blue-green needles.
• Nandina domestica is still popular and well-behaved in Maryland, though there's no doubt it's an invasive pest in the Southeast and Texas.

More New Stuff on Sustainable-Gardening

The new section Sustaining You covers everything from gardening as a reliable source of transcendence to iPods and Adirondack chairs, with injury prevention thrown in for good measure.

In Tools for Digging I get to show off my most beloved mud-encrusted gardening tools.

After drawing several rabid composters into a heated debate about this Compost article, I've refereed as best I could and updated the article to include their input, plus some great links. But don't let that stop you from entering the fray yourself — I'm happy to keep the discussion going.

On the Home Front

For Gardenblogger Bloom Day this month I was desperate, so I bragged on some evergreen perennials that don't look too bad. The holiday photo above was taken last Christmas at Ginter Garden in Richmond, Virginia — a great place to visit any time.

My So-Called Second Career

The good folks at Elderhostel have opened a DC office because their customers are begging for programs here. Vacation packages full of environmental education? Not so much. So they've hired me to talk to tourists who are here to see the Historic Homes and Gardens of Washington — about sustainable gardening and urban greening. Hah!

MonkeySee's full-court press campaign is coming in January but already, Ed Bruske's 15-part video about composting is getting lots of play.

My story about the Purple People and their quest for total food self-sufficiency is now on the Voice newspaper site. Writing for them may not pay the mortgage but it's fun and allows me to get press passes to some really cool events. (Some folks still demand dead-tree credentials.)

Blogging continues unabated at GardenRant, DC Urban Gardener News, Gardening Coach Blog and the companion to my site, Sustainable Gardening Blog. Sometimes I think "Make it stop!" Mostly I still love it.

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