Native Plants

Wildlife Miscellany: Trends, Native Plant Books, and Special Thanks to Carole Brown

January 26, 2012 1 comment
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A quick wrap-up of some recent posts on wildlife gardening from around the web. . . You know how I love to read the garden trend reports at the start of each year, and this year I’m seeing a lot of trends that I like. Over at Beautiful Wildlife Gardens, Carole Brown posted a list [...]

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Evergreen Huckleberry in Oklahoma? Reader Q and A

November 20, 2011 1 comment
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Jack out in Oklahoma read about my native evergreen huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatum, and wondered whether it might grow in his area: “Will this actually grow in Oklahoma City area? Or is it a borderline plant for our state? Thank you, Jack” Jack, a little poking around online at the USDA website shows that the evergreen [...]

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Monday Miscellany: Sustainability Freaks

August 8, 2011 2 comments
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Kicking things off, Ginny Stibolt takes P. Allen Smith and others to task for taking the old-skool pesticide philosophy (kill! Kill them all!) and trying to make it eco by using organic pesticides. And sure, if you’ve gotta spray, go organic. But as she points out, poison is poison, people. If you care about supporting [...]

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How to Get Your Garden Certified as a NWF Wildlife Habitat

July 4, 2011 0 comments
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As one of the National Wildlife Federation’s recommended landscapers, I’ve been learning a lot lately about encouraging wildlife in your garden. One of the easiest ways to begin getting in touch with your local wildlife is to go through the simple process of getting your garden certified as a wildlife habitat. I wrote an article [...]

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Plant Natives in the Side Yard

May 31, 2011 5 comments
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If you’ve been wanting to incorporate more native plants into your garden, either for the wildlife benefit or simply for that touchpoint with your natural surroundings, it can feel like a challenge when you already have an existing garden. But the side yard, an often neglected area with tough conditions, can be an ideal place [...]

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Why Yes, I Do Talk About Non-Native Plants

May 16, 2011 6 comments
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Just, um, not lately. I’ve been on a bit of a native plant kick in recent days, given that so many of my loveliest natives have been putting on a crazy spring show lately. Anyway, if you’re not sick of hearing me bang on about regional character in landscape design, and supporting wildlife, and how [...]

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Gardening Under Redwoods: Dealing With Dry Shade, Acidic Soil, and Root Competition

May 5, 2011 15 comments
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Humboldt County’s known for its majestic redwoods, and many of the gardens that I design and care for have a few towering specimens setting the scene. But lovely though they are, gardening under redwoods presents some serious challenges. Shade For one, redwood trees cast some fairly dense shade. This isn’t such an issue if you [...]

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Regional Flair: Bring it Home With Native Plants

April 30, 2011 25 comments
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***This is a bit of a local rant, but I do have a point that relates to designers and anyone who expresses themselves artistically in the garden.*** I’m lucky: my college town’s somehow managed to stay funky, cool, small and walkable, and above all, different from any other town in the world. Because us Arcata [...]

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Book Excerpt: Energy-Wise Landscape Design

April 22, 2011 0 comments
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Energy-Wise Landscape Design should be a required read for anyone going into the landscaping field. In this book, Sue Reed outlines a number of steps you can take to green your landscape. Some steps are easy and can be done right away; others take more time, energy, thought or care. When I reviewed this book [...]

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Book Excerpt: Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies by Owen Dell

April 20, 2011 2 comments
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A couple weeks back, I reviewed this deliciously funny and extremely useful guide to sustainable landscaping by Owen Dell. You can check out my video and written review here. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share an excerpt with you, so you could get a feel for Owen’s writing style, which is [...]

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