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Sustainable Landscaping

Energy-Wise Landscaping

Saving energy in our landscapes seems especially important right now in light of how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is impacting the livelihood of the people who live there and the wildlife who are dependent on the salt marsh ecosystem. Sue Reed is the author of the ground-breaking new book, Energy-Wise Landscape [...]

Oil Spill and Our Gardens

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As oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed, nesting bird colonies are being wiped out, sea turtles and dolphins are being washed up on shore, and wildlife around the region is being severely impacted. I have to say that I start sobbing every time I see a photo [...]

Sustainable Landscaping 14 comments

Sustainable Landscaping for Gardeners

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I received with great interest a review copy of Owen Dell’s Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies. Although I am not really a fan of the “Dummy” connotation, I’ve got to say that Owen has done an excellent job in covering this subject in a well thought out and accessible way. If you’re a subscriber to the Wren [...]

Sustainable Landscaping 5 comments

Sustainable Landscapes Give Back

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It may come as a surprise to many that the gold standard of the green building industry, LEED certification, actually does very little to address the land beyond the building. The highest ranked LEED buildings may perform very poorly from a sustainability perspective. Fortunately, this gap has been addressed by The Sustainable Sites Initiative, a [...]

Sustainable Landscaping 3 comments

And what the heck is Ecosystem Gardening Anyway?

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You may be wondering just what the heck I mean by “Ecosystem Gardening,” and I can answer that here. As you read through these articles, please be aware that I have grown in my thinking on this subject and I changed the name. In the beginning I was using the term “Conservation Gardening.” But for [...]

Ecosystem Gardening 10 comments

Sustainable Gardening for Florida

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Sustainable Gardening for Florida is one of the best summaries of sustainable practice in our gardens that I have ever seen. With the qualification that specific plants and several garden situations may be appropriate only for Florida, the principles of sustainability presented in this book can be applied by gardeners everywhere. Ginny Stibolt has spent [...]

Sustainable Landscaping 6 comments

Conservation Gardening Best of the Web #3: Lawn Reform

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This week’s best of the web is about Lawn reform because it was much in the blogosphere this week. I’ve already written about my views on the American Lawn, so it will come as no surprise to you that I’m totally in favor of all efforts to reduce lawns because they provide so little habitat [...]

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Conservation Gardening Weekly Best of the Web

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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 [...]

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The Language of Conservation Gardening: Being Specific

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There are many similar or related terms to Conservation Gardening being used which may be causing some confusion. These terms include: organic gardening, habitat gardening for wildlife, ecological gardening, sustainable landscaping/gardening, xeriscaping, natural gardening, and more. For the purpose of clarity, I’ll discuss these terms and their relation to Conservation Gardening so that we will [...]

Ecosystem Gardening 4 comments

A Resource Guide to Conservation Gardening, Part 1: Sustainability

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This is Part 1 in a series of resources for Conservation Gardening. See What does Conservation Gardening mean to see how these references are used in Conservation Gardening. Sustainable Landscaping Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors, Second Edition, by J. William Thompson and Kim Sorvig. This is an excellent and thorough guide [...]