Growing Greener

Award-winning landscape designer Edwina von Gal describes her Perfect Earth Project’s dual approach to changing the culture of land care in the United States: building a constituency among land owner…

The National Plant Germplasm System has protected U.S. farmers against crop diseases and now climate change for over a century; DOGE has defunded its $40 million annual budget, imperiling our $1.5 t…

Award-winning landscape architect Michael Geffel describes how he used precisely targeted and timed mowing to convert a brownfield into a flowering grassland and a vibrant public recreation area.

Slugs are the Rodney Dangerfield of garden wildlife – our only interest is in exterminating them.  Yet as Dr. Jann Vendetti of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum explains, they lead fascin…

Shannon Currey, head of education and outreach for Izel Native Plants, shares how that transformative plant clearinghouse is as committed to the education of its customers as to providing them with …

Molly Moore, master gardener and master naturalist, shares the online program she co-wrote with Marlene Smith which can set you on the path to success in starting plants from locally collected seeds…

Brandon Carbary’s pre-designed garden templates, shipped complete with plants, makes creating a locally adapted, aesthetically attractive display of native plants almost effortless

Ethan Kauffman, Director of Stoneleigh, describes the 9-year process his team has pursued, enriching a classic Philadelphia Mainline estate with thousands of species of native plants, to transform it…

Starting vegetable and annual seedlings indoors is a skill every gardener needs to master and Dr. Steve Reiners of Cornell University shares tricks of the trade.  Grow your own locally adapted, disea…

Judge’s Farm Nursery is the newest venture in the Griswold family’s 385-year association with their homestead at the mouth of the Connecticut River.  Co-founder Matt Griswold describes the nursery’s …

Aaron von Frank discusses his book, “The Impractical Guide to Keeping Pet and Backyard Ducks” and details the services a flock can provide in controlling weeds and pests, as well as furnishing a supp…

That bouquet of flowers you buy at the supermarket has a huge, unsustainable carbon footprint.  Join Debra Prinzing, founder of the Slow Flowers Society, for tips about sourcing locally grown flowers…

It’s not an either/or choice, native vs. introduced, for Claudia West of Phyto Studio when this leader of the ecological gardening movement develops a plant palette for one of her innovative landsca…

“Your Natural Garden,” Kelly D. Norris’ new book, is sure to be one of the most essential gardening tools of 2025.  In this beautifully illustrated guide, Norris, who split his childhood between work…

Sports fields and swimming beaches are essential, but public parks can also play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity.  As Curator of Natural Resources for the Westchester County New York Park…

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?  Or a snowy Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?  Or just a personal celebration of the winter solstice?  EcoBeneficial designer and educator Kim Eierman will share you the m…

Gardeners mostly didn’t focus on our native plants as such in 1988 when Steve Castorani and Dale Hendricks founded North Creek Nurseries to propagate them in bulk for distribution to retail nurseries…

Creating a native lawn, Dave Kaplow says, may require no more than a change in maintenance regimes.  And, the ecological restoration pioneer adds, it provides a biodiverse and sustainable turf that i…

Brother James Lockman of the Franciscan Order, whose personal ministry is ecological restoration, discusses the nature-embracing spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of his order, and how i…