Conservation Gardening Weekly Best of the Web

I thought I’d share some wonderful articles from around the web this week. It is great to see so many other writers committed to the principles of Conservation Gardening. So here, in no particular order, is what I read this week:

• Joel Gillespie wrote about Obsessively Green Gardening, where he touched on many of the points I have been discussing here, such as no or low emissions, less lawn, more native plants, making space for biodiversity, composting, recycling, water conservation, and no chemicals.
• Shawna Coronado guest-posted at Garden Rant this week in an article titled “Where the $@*% is the Army of Gardeners? Get Off Your Duffs and Make A Difference!” She advocated quite elegantly for us all to encourage churches, businesses, and homeowners to get rid of their lawns by planting veggies or planting therapeutic gardens. I, of course would add the necessity of creating welcoming habitats for wildlife. Shawna pointed out that we cannot afford to wait for local, state, or federal governments to solve this problem. We each must take responsibility for our own properties and building our own communities.
• Also guest posting at Garden Rant this week was David Schmetterling of Montana Wildlife Gardener. In What Native-plant Gardens Need David addresses the myth that native plants require no care after planting. Many gardeners of the “Fine Gardening” persuasion have a misperception that native plants are unattractive, while native plant gardeners sometimes tend to neglect their plants. David suggests that instead of thinking “low maintenance” we think of “less resource intensive” when it comes to native plants.
• Susan Harris of Sustainable Gardening Blog reviews Ginny Stibolt’s Sustainable Gardening in Florida, a book whose principles can be applied in any garden. Ginny takes the concept of sustainability beyond just conserving natural resources into creating oxygen, lessening the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air, creating habitats for wildlife, and more. Ginny sounds like a woman after my own heart and I can’t wait to read this book.
• Jessica Hall discusses the role of invasive plants in increasing wildfires. This is really frightening, and we each need to take responsibility for removing these plants from our properties and encouraging our local nurseries to stop selling them.

Thoughts?

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