gardens and landscaping | Gardening

Master Gardeners planning "Gardening with Nature" series – The Patriot

One
gardening trend that’s been gaining steam in recent years has been more
gardeners trying to garden with
nature as opposed to trying to tame her with pesticides, power tools and
technology.

The
outgrowth has been increased interest in avoiding chemical sprays, attracting
birds and butterflies to the landscape, conserving rainwater and recycling yard
waste by composting.

Penn
State Master Gardeners in Cumberland County plan to offer a series of workshops
this year to give local residents information on those and other
nature-friendly topics.

To
give a preview of the planned 2014 Gardening with Nature workshop series, the
Master Gardeners will hold an Open House Preview on Tue., Feb. 11, from 7 to
8:30 p.m. in the lower level of Fredricksen Library, 100 N. 19^th
St., Camp Hill.

The
Open House is free, and no pre-registration is needed. Light refreshments will
be served.

Master
Gardeners also will share information about native Plants, rain Gardens, rain barrels
and conservation landscaping from the 2013 Gardening with Nature workshop
series.

Each
2014 workshop class costs $5, and pre-registration will be required for those.

The
series get under way on March 11 with a program, “Living on the Water:
Landscaping for Streamside Landowners.”

Other
future topics include composting, pollinator gardens, groundcovers, invasive plants,
backyard forests, and techniques to “jump-start” your garden over the winter.

More
information and registration is available by calling Penn State Extension in
Cumberland County at 717-240-6500 or toll-free at 1-888-697-0371 ext. 6500.

Or
email CumberlandExt@psu.edu or visit
online at the Extension web site.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

‘Facelift’ latest improvement at east side elementary

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In just three years, Kellond Elementary School has undergone quite the transformation.

The student population at the east-side campus nearly doubled from 300 to about 600 — the result of school closures that forced students from two other sites to merge into Kellond.

At the same time, the school managed to go from being rated a “C” school to earning the top grade of “A” from the Arizona Department of Education last school year.

Now, the three schools that make up Kellond are gearing up for yet another change — one that they have eagerly sought.

The change will come in the form of a community-service project that will give the school, built in 1957, a face-lift.

After unsuccessfully vying to be selected for the University of Arizona’s Cats in the Community Day in 2013, Kellond was selected for the 2014 project, which brings together UA faculty, staff members and students to beautify a nonprofit or school by taking on projects that could not otherwise be addressed.

Come March, dozens of volunteers will descend upon the school, 6606 E. Lehigh Drive, to redesign an arts and music room, paint murals, do landscaping work, install shade structures, organize, clean and complete other projects to enhance the campus.

“It’s really exciting and we see this as a way to unify the school,” Kellond Principal Scott Hagerman said. “Now that things have come together, this is the topping that says ‘things are going

great.’ ”

While there is much to be proud of, it wasn’t an easy road, Hagerman acknowledges.

It all began in 2010, when the Tucson Unified School District closed Rogers Elementary School and a number of other campuses in the name of budget cuts. Students from Rogers were assigned to Kellond.

“The Kellond-Rogers merger was incredibly difficult,” said Emma Batty, a learning-supports coordinator at Kellond. “Blending two different communities with their already established rituals and behaviors took a toll on the group. Both communities had to make compromises, and collectively worked on establishing a culture that supported all members.”

It took a year, but the new community came together, though many continue — even now — to refer to the time when the schools were their own entities.

During the 2012-2013 school year, more school closures were underway and Kellond was once again selected as a merger school for gifted students from Corbett Elementary School for the current school year — a much smoother transition as the students were excited for the change — pushing the school to inch closer to its capacity of about 630.

“Now more than ever, Kellond needs help building community,” Batty said in a proposal to the UA.

Already, parents, students and the Kellond staff are stepping forward to help with the beautification project, working alongside the UA volunteers.

“We want to reward and help bring this community of students together with this project,” said Sheila McGinnis, the UA’s director of outreach and community partnerships.

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Some landscapers fear losing work in drought

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As a landscaper, Kate Anchordoguy acknowledges the drought is giving her “a real moral dilemma.”

On the one hand, the owner of Kate Anchordoguy Landscaping in Santa Rosa wants to provide work for her three employees and herself. On the other hand, she believes that 2014 may become the year for customers to leave one key element out of their landscaping projects: The plants.

“I think it’s better than wasting water this year on establishing new plantings,” she said.

Like agriculture, the landscaping industry has suffered in past droughts when residents and businesses cut back on installing new plants and on maintaining lawns and gardens.

Landscape contractors in Sonoma County differ markedly on the outlook for 2014, a year where state and local officials already are calling for a 20 percent cut in water consumption.

“If we don’t get rain, it’s really going to affect our business,” said Jeff Pottorff, owner of North Bay Landscape Management in Petaluma.

Pottorff already has met with city officials in the East Bay and heard them say that without more rain they will dramatically cut back on the water they apply to the public landscapes that his 70-worker company maintains.

However, other landscapers believe their businesses will adapt and stay busy even through another dry year. They can do so by installing drought-tolerant plants and by working to help keep existing landscapes alive.

“I don’t think I’ll lose any business,” said Linda Gottuso-Guay, who with her husband James owns Manzanita Landscape Construction in Santa Rosa. “I think people will call me to help.”

Part of that help, landscapers said, may be to consider which plants to water and which to let die.

On the North Coast, the last 13 months have been the driest in 83 years of record keeping.

The next two months are considered the best hope for significant rainfall before summer. Santa Rosa on average receives nearly 90 percent of its rain between October and March.

In response, Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a statewide drought emergency.

Meanwhile, Sonoma County and its cities are preparing to cut water use by 20 percent this year. For communities receiving water from the Russian River, the voluntary savings would amount to roughly 3 billion gallons.

The state Department of Water Resources has estimated the landscape and gardening industry lost $460 million in gross revenues and 5,600 full-time jobs in the drought year of 1991, or roughly a 7 percent cut in the $7 billion industry.

Harold Berkemeier, owner of Harold’s Landscape Maintenance in Cotati, said he took a bigger hit in the 1976-77 drought, until now considered the most consequential dry spell for North Bay homes and businesses. Berkemeier estimated his business dropped about 25 percent as property owners came under strict water rationing and stopped watering their lawns.

“They let their landscape maintenance people go,” he recalled.

Berkemeier, a former Cotati mayor and council member, said without winter rains both landscapers and residents could find themselves in a tough spot again this year. But the region needs to conserve all the water it can, and cities “should be the first to show that they’re going to cut way back” on parks and other landscapes.

Sandra Giarde, executive director of the California Landscape Contractors Association, said many of her 2,000 members already are getting calls from customers seeking advice on how to keep their plants alive.

“The public is concerned about this,” Giarde said. “They have questions. They recognize the need for expert assistance.”

Already some are changing plans. Jerry Rovetti, owner of Rovetti’s Landscaping in Santa Rosa, said the drought recently prompted owners to have him install drought-tolerant plants rather than lawn in a home going on the market in Petaluma.

For 2014, Rovetti said, “We may be pulling out a lot of lawn.” Even so, he doesn’t expect a significant drop in business because property owners still will install new plantings.

Since 1977, the state has recorded droughts in 1987-1992, 2000-2002 and 2007-2009. The dry spells already have pushed changes in landscaping, as in virtually all areas of residential and commercial water use.

For example, the city of Santa Rosa reports that since 2007, it has paid homeowners and business to remove 2 million square feet of turf. The city pays up to $250 to take out home lawns and up to $2,500 for turf removal at commercial properties, plus other funds for upgrading irrigation equipment.

Darryl Orr, an owner of Pacific Landscapes in Sebastopol, said a decade ago roughly 60 percent of his company’s work involved lawns. Today that figure is closer to 35 percent.

Orr, whose business employs 65 workers, remains optimistic that landscapers can weather the water shortage, especially if the region gets some rain in the next few months.

“We can deal with a 25 percent water cutback,” he said.

Landscapers said property owners will hire them to figure out ways to use less water and still keep plants alive.

Frank Patane, general manager of Golden Gate Landscape Management in Santa Rosa, said he takes care of 30 acres of local athletic fields and already is suggesting that his workers save water this year by leaving the grass a little higher when they cut it.

For installers, a key factor will be whether property owners decide to hold off new planting this year.

In that regard, Santa Rosa officials are discussing whether the city’s lawn removal program should encourage participants to remove turf now but to delay installing new plants and shrubs until after the rains return.

In such a scenario, home and business owners still could tear out the lawn and install drip irrigation and other improvements, “but possibly hold off on the planting,” said Kimberly Zunino, a water resources sustainability manager for the city.

Peter Estournes, director of operations at Gardenworks in Healdsburg, said without rain, other cities also may consider discouraging or prohibiting new plantings.

Estournes, a former president of the state landscapers association, said he still hopes for a “fabulous February” for rainfall. But he expects that a key job of landscapers this year will be to prompt their clients to ask: “What is my landscape worth to me? What can I do without? What’s important to me?”

Pierre Marizco, president of Marizco Landscape Management in Santa Rosa, said he foresees a dilemma: Property owners will have less water this year while plants likely will get thirsty earlier because of the lack of precipitation. That could mean stretching the reduced amount of irrigation water over a much longer period.

“I believe some difficult choices are going to be made,” Marizco said. “Maintaining all your plants in a healthy vigorous state may not be possible this year.”

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

JoAnne Skelly: Too much tidiness gets in way of a good garden

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I have often written that I am a lazy gardener. I try to manage my landscape with as little work as possible. Today, reading Mirabel Osler’s “A Gentle Plea for Chaos,” I found out that in regard to landscape design I am “eclectically wanton” and “less cerebral.” This sounds so much nicer than lazy. I am not a well-controlled gardener because there is no “antiseptic tidiness” in my yard; in fact, there is little tidiness at all. Osler writes, “The very soul of a garden is shriveled by zealous regimentation.” She would be quite happy in my unregimented garden. She points out that a mania for neatness or lust for conformity destroys any atmosphere and sensuality a garden might have.

She calls those who “plant and drift, who prune and amble” and who actually sit in their gardens, random gardeners who have the “freedom to loll.” True cottage gardens with flowers interplanted with herbs, veggies, berries and fruit trees are examples of lovely chaos. But lovely chaos is much harder to achieve than a contrived heavily pruned landscape. “It requires intuition and a genius for letting things have their heads,” Osler writes.

Of course, there is a time and place for precision in landscaping. How the lines in the garden are created with walls, paths, hedges, irrigation and other structural features requires planning. Every landscape should begin with tree selection and placement because “trees are the salient features around which everything else is worked.” Tree planting is precise because trees must be planted according to size at maturity, rather than randomly, in areas of the yard with good drainage and decent soil.

Existing features of a site may dominate a design. These can include native or ornamental trees, boulders, creeks (if you are lucky) or the shape of the land. Even an improper gardener will work to incorporate these effectively for function and aesthetics.

Once the bones of the garden are in and dominant elements are integrated, hard lines can be softened by letting “a bit of native vitality” take over. Allow new growth on shrubs such as forsythia to arch gracefully. Avoid pruning plants into little green meatballs. Let grape hyacinth, feverfew and other flowers self-sow where they will. Each year my garden beds surprise me with new, uninvited-but-welcome arrivals. Permit a “modicum of chaos” or some “amiable disorder.” Over time, this will set the garden singing, Osler says.

JoAnne Skelly is the Carson City/Storey County Extension educator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and may be reached at skellyj@unce.unr.edu or 775-887-2252.

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Master Gardener

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Once again the garden trend report is out from the PR firm, Garden Media. It’s a wonderful report about 115 pages in length and full of information about more than just garden trends.

They are calling this year the Year of Happiness, finding ways to do things more simply, finding what makes you happy and content and finding peace within your environment.

An article on Huffington post by Dr. Larry Dossey entitled “Is Dirt the New Prozac”, states “There’s only one cure; take a hike, go camping or root around in my veggie garden. These activities are more than a hobby; they have become an essential part of my life and an important element in my personal health plan”. To read the entire article go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-larry-dossey/is-dirt-the-new-prozac_b_256625.html

With more people wanting to shrink their environmental footprint, the trend of sustainability is still holding on for the current year. Bill Doeckel of Ball Innovations states, “Sustainability is alive and well. People care about what they put in their mouths, what they put in their bodies and what is around them, in that order”. Use better fertilizer management, rainwater collection, and use recycled materials in the garden. Choose to make 2014 the year you pay more attention to sustainability and local matters.

Other trends to take note of are:

· Organic farms increasing 9% a year

· Sales of organic products increasing at double digit rates

· Products or services must truly be Eco-Positive

· Globally gardening is up 3% yearly from 2007-2011 and predicted to grow 1% annually from 2011-2016

· Lawn and Garden yearly spending is a whopping $58 billion

· Perennials have increased 10% in last 10 years while annual have dropped 10%

· National Gardening Association survey says DIY gardening is up 2% since 2011

· Food Gardening increased for the 6th straight year, and is now bigger in spending power than Flower Gardening

· The internet has become the newest friend and neighbor for gardening advice, utilizing websites, Facebook, Twitter and email

· Composting is on the rise – 25% of households do some form of composting. More and better education is needed for consumers on Food Scrap recycling. 97% of food scraps end up in the landfill, generating 35,000,000 tons annually of waste products. Lots of major cities across the country are implementing Food Scrap programs.

· Super foods such as blueberries, kale, variety of greens, herbs and berries are on the rise for the 3rd straight year.

· Drinking your garden, yep that’s what I said. One of the hottest new books out is The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart. Grow products in your garden to turn into juice, smoothies or homemade alcoholic beverages. The use of herbs and vegetables as a garnish is another way to add interest and more flavor to your drinks.

· Small scale gardening include; straw bale gardening, containers, microgardens and microgreens are more popular than ever.

· Outdoor living and decorating your space with fire pits, fireplaces, trellises, containers and all forms of hardscaping is up again from last year. A noted increase in outdoor entertaining and garden parties has raised the sales in the above products.

· The balance between the old and new – know your neighbors, eat locally, shop at farm markets or buy from CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) and become a steward of the Earth.

An important issue is bees. Be aware of their existence and viability. One third of all honey bee colonies are gone. 85% of earth’s plant species require pollinators to exist. There is a definite rise of beekeepers across the county, but Colony Collapse Disorder is still a concern. Make a home for your bees, put in plants that attract them and buy your honey locally.

The benefits of trees are highlighted more than ever. Trees increase property values 3-10%, absorb noise, provide beauty and peace, vital to environmental health, filter the air and shade the lawn and your home.

During this cold snowy time of year, be thinking of all the new trends when you design your new gardens and landscaping ideas for the coming spring. Happy Gardening.

For a complete report visit: www.gardenmediagroup.com.

Susan Liechty is a Delaware County OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer

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Best of BC: 41st annual BC Home and Garden Show

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41^st annual BC Home and Garden Show
February 19 to 23, 2014
BC Place

Gearing up for a home makeover? CTV invites you to visit the 2014 BC Home Garden Show coming to BC Place, January 19^th – 23^rd. This annual event will offer real advice, real inspiration and real experts to help prep for any home improvement project, be it a basic décor update or a major renovation. Visitors will hear expert suggestions from the best in the biz, get style stimulation from a slew of exciting new features and shop the show (read: 425 top-notch exhibitors), all under one roof.

CTV is giving you a chance to win a pair of tickets to the show. Simply fill out the entry form and check back here on Monday, February 10^th to see if you’re a winner!

Best of B.C.: 41st annual BC Home and Garden Show contest

SHOW DATES TIMES

Wednesday, February 19th 4:00pm – 9:00pm
Thursday, February 20th 12 noon – 9:00 pm
Friday, February 21st 12 noon – 9:00 pm
Saturday, February 22nd 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday, February 23rd 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

BC Place Stadium, 777 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver, BC V6B 4Y8

ADMISSION

Adults: $15
Adults: ONLINE $12
Seniors (60+): $12
Seniors (60+): ONLINE $9
Seniors Thurs. Fri. before 5pm: $5 (Box Office Online)
Children 12 and under: FREE

Buy ticket online and save $3 courtesy of Homestars at www.vancouverhomeshow.com

STAGES

HGTV Main Stage
Spring cleaning takes on a whole new meaning with inspiration from Canada’s top design, renovation and real estate experts on the HGTV Main Stage. Armed with insight from past projects and years of on-the-job experience, duos are reigning supreme for 2014, including HGTV’s Bryan Sarah Baeumler, Mike Holmes Jr. Sherry Holmes, and Parker Barrow co-owners Janette Ewen Jef Hancock. Intimidating designspeak need not apply.

View the HGTV Main Stage schedule at www.vancouverhomeshow.com

Urban Fare Cooking Stage
Vancouver’s leading chefs will lay it all out on the table, with signature recipes that will leave the crowd hungry for more. Think all things spring, from BBQ and beer pairings to comfort food and cocktails, complete with local flavours and eye-pleasing plating that transfer effortlessly to any home kitchen. Who’s up for seconds? Presented by Urban Fare, Western Living Magazine and FortisBC.

View the Urban Fare Cooking Stage schedule at www.vancouverhomeshow.com

The Vancouver Sun Gardening School
Growing pains, begone! Led by Vancouver Sun gardening editor Steve Whysall and his team of gardening gurus, daily seminars will guide budding horticulturists through the nitty-gritty of plant growing with free seminars covering topics from seeding to composting. Dig in! Presented by the Vancouver Sun. Landscaping by Lily Design.

SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS: ONE DAY ONLY!

Opening Night
The BC Home + Garden Show ushers in the latest showcase of home improvement must-haves with an evening of renovation-based revelry featuring snacks, sips and perks for all. Get the goods early at the hottest design party of the season while enjoying world-class entertainment from local band DNA6, the company of Vancouver’s creative insiders and plenty of surprises all night long.

Wednesday, February 19, 4-9PM

Chopping Blockpresented by Urban Fare
Ready those roasting pans! Competition will heat up the Urban Fare Cooking Stage when four home chefs go head-to-head in a culinary battle royale. Participants will prepare three courses using mystery ingredients chosen by public vote, with the loser of each round getting “chopped” from the competition. Last person standing will receive the ultimate bragging rights – not to mention an exclusive prize courtesy of Urban Fare. Chefs, start your stovetops! Presented by Urban Fare and 102.7 The Peak.

Saturday, February 22, 2-4PM

Dominion Lending Centres Day
Don’t break the bank! Financial issues are usually the least-sexy part of buying or renovating a home – until now. On Friday, February 21, investing and mortgage experts from Dominion Lending Centres, Canada’s national mortgage and leasing company, will act as knights in money-savvy armour on the HGTV Main Stage, doling out their top tips (and exclusive goodie bags for early birds) on how to keep your home financially fit for the future. Talk about a sweet deal.

Friday, February 21, 12 noon-5PM

MUST-SEE FEATURES

Ask an Expert
Stumped on style? Interior decorating experts, professional landscapers and certified contractors will tackle design dilemmas of all kinds with free, 10-minute consultations for beleaguered renters and harried homeowners alike. Come equipped with swatches and sketches to receive the best advice in the biz – no decorating topic denied! Presented by Intact Insurance. Styled by Friendly Decorator.

West Coast Power Smart Home
Home remodeling is the stuff of nightmares for many a homeowner – until now. Enter this year’s Dream Home, where home improvement, green living and modern west coast design will meet in a marriage of style and sustainability. Landscaped by Rob Spytz Design, this dwelling will inspire visions of the region’s breathtaking wood and seascapes, all while enjoying eco-chic comforts styled by the Friendly Decorator herself, Christine Friend. Presented by BC Hydro.

Living Melodies
Sight and sound will meet in living colour to create eight glorious garden plots inspired by famous tunes. Explore more than 7,000 square feet of green oases complete with breathtaking blossoms, eye-catching water and stone features, stylish outdoor furniture and the industry’s top local experts to tend to all your landscaping laments. Eden, eat your heart out.

Better Gnomes Gardens
Inspired by the world-renowned Chelsea Flower Show’s decision to lift a century-long ban on garden gnomes in 2013, Vancouver’s movers and shakers will show off their creative flair by turning a plain garden gnome into a whimsical treasure. Guests can bid on their favourites to benefit Sole Food Street Farms, an urban agricultural community dedicated to transforming empty lots into fruitful farming plots, empowering and employing the underprivileged along the way. All proceeds benefit Sole Food Street Farms.

The Twinings English Tea Garden
Traditional teatime gets a modern reimagining with a nod to our posh neighbours across the pond. Enjoy a piping hot brew and tip your hat to everyone’s favourite royal family while enjoying the sights and sounds of an expertly landscaped oasis. Jolly good, chaps! Presented by Twinings Canada and Cedar Rim Nursery.

Portobello West
Inspired by London’s world-famous street market, Portobello West is Vancouver’s best-known fashion and art market. A selection of top emerging talent will showcase their wares in a special pop-up edition, with enticing opportunities to increase the inventory of any closet, jewellery box or art collection. Shopping local has never looked so good.

m(ART)ket
Tired of all things boring and beige? This curated collection of artwork from Vancouver’s most talented up-and-coming artists is guaranteed to banish bare-wall blues without breaking the bank. With pieces ranging from simple to sculptural, there’s style and size to suit every taste and trend. Works of art, indeed.

BCLiving Magazine Lounge
Relax (sans guilt) in this luxurious lounge refreshment and BC Living Magazine in hand. Styled by Vancouver’s favourite local decorating duo A Good Chick To Know and conveniently located adjacent to the HGTV Main Stage, this chic space will invite you to press pause without passing up on any of the action. Grab a drink and snag some snacks while reading up on all the latest home décor trends!

Al Fresco Wine Lounge
Some home improvement projects, no matter how complex, are just no match for a wino’s sophisticated palate. Steal away to Gemstone’s chic backyard patio and indulge in a glass or two, complete with flavourful fare from a variety of vendors. Cheers to that. Presented by Gemstone Masonry Landscape Supply and Coast Spas.

DIY Done Right
Pinspirations realized! DIY divas will hear top repurposing recommendations straight from the source as the pros from Habitat For Humanity Greater Vancouver walk them through upcycling projects using pieces from the Vancouver ReStores. Visitors will earn a gold star for sustainability and major bragging rights by sharing their eco-friendly handiwork over social media. Move over, Martha Stewart. Presented by Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver and Greater Vancouver ReStores.

Help Desk
Hardwood floors desperate for a refinish? Master bath begging for fresh tiles? Look no further than the Help Desk, where a slew of experts will provide tips and trade secrets to nudge your home improvement project in the right direction. Stop by the concourse or east entrance to get started. Asking for help is the first step to success! Presented by HomeStars.com.

About the BC Home + Garden Show: The BC Home + Garden Show has been a staple in consumers’ calendars since 1971, attracting more than 56,000 qualified visitors every spring. Produced by Marketplace Events, the show features high-interest exhibits, high-profile industry personalities and the latest home and lifestyle trends. Marketplace Events produces 34 home shows in 21 markets that collectively attract 1.5 million attendees and another 1.7 million unique web visitors annually.

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Keeping the garden native

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ECOLOGY is on many gardeners’ minds these days. Gardeners who value the science of relationships between living things and their environments increasingly want to know more about those connections – how toxic chemicals worsen a yard’s overall health and why bees, birds and butterflies are crucial to our daily lives, for example.

“We have a responsibility to support the land that we depend on for our own survival, and that responsibility includes thoughtful choices about how we landscape our own tiny spot of Earth,” says Carol Heiser, habitat education coordinator with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. She encourages public, private and corporate landowners to provide habitat for songbirds, mammals, amphibians and other native wildlife.

“Insects and plants co-evolved for millennia and have developed intricate inter-relationships. Unfortunately, over the past 300-plus years, we’ve replaced a substantial portion of the natural landscape with non-native plant species from other continents and the result has been an altering of the food web,” she says.

“This, in turn, has had the effect of depressing insect populations that depend on specific ecosystem patterns, along with an associated decline in bird populations which rely on insects to feed their young. Although land clearing and development are certainly contributing factors to the loss of habitat, the introduction of non-native species has had an insidious but far-reaching, deleterious outcome.”

Habitat gardening, which is more accurately called conservation landscaping, around homes is one way of “putting back”, or making an attempt to mimic the original native plant community, she continues. This means removing exotic invasive plant species and replacing them with native species.

To acquaint yourself with habitat gardening, Heisers suggests you first go online to look at photos of invasive exotic plants and learn to identify them. Then, take a clipboard and walk your yard, listing any invasive plants.

“When that list is done, make another column of all the other non-natives that aren’t invasive but exotic just the same. You’ll probably be surprised that most of your favourite ‘ornamentals’ are non-native,” she says.

“They’re called ‘ornamental’ because they’re just that: decorations without any biological purpose.”

Next, go back online to find out what native species are best for your growing needs, she advises. Select one non-native plant species in your yard, remove it and replace it with a native species.

“After you’ve installed the native species, pay close attention throughout the growing season to what insects you’ve never seen before that are now visiting these new plants,” she says.

“This should give you a huge sense of pride that you have done a good thing, because you’ve just added more insects for young birds to get their protein. Congratulations, you are now a ‘grandparent’.”

Finally, repeat the removing and planting process every year for the next several years — until your yard has been converted into a native plant landscape.

“Keep a journal of the insect species that visit your yard, which will represent an increase in biodiversity and evidence of your success,” she says.

“You can expect a renewed sense of personal connection to nature, knowing that you’ve taken part in … even if only a very small way … a change in our landscape ‘culture’.”

More information on conservation landscaping is available at: www.nwf.org, www.nativeplantcenter.net, www.abfnet.org, www.bringingnaturehome.net. www.dgif.virginia.gov/habitat. — Daily Press/McClatchy Tribune Information Services

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Dubai garden contest sees big response

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Nasser Khan

Dubai garden contest sees big response

Dubai, 3 hours, 28 minutes
ago

Dubai International Garden Competition (DIGC), the UAE’s first landscaping competition, has received a higher-than-expected number of garden designs before the submission deadline of February 16.

The event will take place from April 3 to 6 in ‘The Venue,’ along Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, adjacent to Burj Khalifa.

The competition is facilitated by Purelife Events, Conferences Exhibitions, under the patronage of Dubai Municipality with strategic sponsorship from Dubai Tourism Commerce and support from the venue sponsorship partner Emaar.

Internationally renowned landscape designers, architects, artists and property developers have been attracted by several factors, such as Dubai’s growing status as a lucrative property investment destination, and the irresistible challenge of overcoming Dubai’s arid desert land and skyrocketing temperatures throughout-of-the-box ingenuity.

The competition is the brainchild of Purelife Events, Exhibitions Conferences, who’s CEO, Nasser Khan said: “We passionately believe that when it comes to landscaping masterpieces, Dubai should not be limited by its climate or location, as our population and our business sector is a fertile ground for cultivating breathtaking creativity and dazzling technological innovations.”

“DIGC strives to ‘cross pollinate’ the best international practices into Dubai’s market, by attracting premier botanists, architects, landscapers and other experts from North America, Europe, Australasia and the rest of the world to inspire Dubai through knowledge transfer, investments and ‘green retail’ opportunities. As our reputation blossoms, we expect our competition to become the pride of the Middle East,” he added.

Besides the aesthetic beauty and massive environmental benefits of gardens, developers in Dubai’s resurgent property market are keenly aware that gardening creations can significantly boost a property’s value.

Real estate agents now use the term “curb appeal” to signify the beauty a property’s exterior, which adds resell value in the same way interior refurbishments do. According to the co-owner and president of a renowned gardening nursery, advanced landscaping also enhances privacy and minimizes street noise. Another avid landscaper said that gardening as an art form can inspire home owners and developers to create “their own piece of paradise.”

Nadeem Abbas, sales director of Purelife added: “Dubai prides itself in pioneering first-of-a-kind innovations – be it architectural, environmental, and technological – or in our case, all three in one. We now live in a concrete jungle of high rise buildings, and we are encouraging a greater appreciation of the ‘Green City’ way of life.”

In addition to artistic excellence, the competition judges will also consider factors such as eco-friendliness, technical and scientific ingenuity. Leading engineers and scientists will join landscapers and other professionals in vying for the prestigious Gold Award. – TradeArabia News Service

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Recycling nature: He makes rustic furniture from garden ‘debris’

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PHILADELPHIA | David Hughes, a Doylestown, Pa., landscape architect with an affinity for native flora and natural landscapes, often finds himself ripping out dead, overgrown, or otherwise undesirable plants to make way for new.

But he doesn’t haul that nasty Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese white mulberry, or Norway maple to the dump, curb, or chipper. Hughes is that rare soul who prizes what other designers and gardeners despise, more so if it’s scarred by deer browsing, insect damage, or disease.

That’s because, in addition to designing ecologically responsible landscapes in the Philadelphia region, Hughes, 46, is a skilled woodworker who makes rustic furniture from garden “debris,” a kind of plant-world Dumpster diver.

“To me, it’s a nice marriage, landscaping and woodworking,” says Hughes, whose five-year-old business, his second, is called Weatherwood Design. It comprises about 70 percent landscaping and 30 percent woodworking.

Storm-felled trees and gnarly vines make good raw materials. So do pruned branches, old barn boards, and stuff plucked, with permission, from the side of the road.

An arborist friend scouts out intriguing branches and discarded trunks. Hughes helps the Natural Lands Trust and local preserves thin out invasives or dead trees. And every July Fourth, again with permission, he rescues unwanted driftwood from death by bonfire at a public beach on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

The wood might sit for years on the one-acre property Hughes shares with his widowed dad, Merritt Hughes, a retired English teacher. Logs, planks, oddball sticks and scraps are stacked along the driveway, in the yard, and in and around Hughes’ densely packed, unheated 8-by-12-foot workshop.

“It’s hard to throw anything out,” he says a bit sheepishly of the jars of nails, screws, and bolts, the bits of this or that, and the saws, planes, and other tools of his trade.

Drying wood outside is challenging. But if rain and snow are his nemeses, water is also a friend. “My best ideas come in the shower,” he says.

Those ideas — for chairs, tables and benches, garden gates, and screens, trellises, arbors, railings, and birdhouses — are time-consuming. A simple-looking chair can take 35 hours to make, at $45 an hour, not counting time to find and dry the wood and do research.

“It’s like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. There are no square edges to anything,” says Hughes, who is itching for some land of his own so he can grow hedgerows of the native trees — alder, sassafras, Eastern red cedar, black locust, Osage orange — he likes to work with.

He also wants to live off the grid and build native plant, meadow, and woodland demonstration gardens. Four acres, at a minimum, would do it, though so much real estate would involve a lot of deer-fencing.

But fenced it must be; deer are plentiful, and Hughes has had Lyme disease 14 times since the early 1990s.

That he has worked through such a scourge reflects a lifetime of loving plants.

Growing up in Glenside, Pa., Hughes was “always out playing and getting muddy and dirty,” often in Baederwood Park. Foreshadowing the landscape architect he would become, he spent hours in the attic constructing vehicles and buildings with Legos and Lincoln Logs.

As an 8-year-old, guided by his handy grandfather, Sylvester “Cookie” Cook, Hughes built metal cladding to reinforce a toy castle, and carved sticks to support a leather-covered tepee.

“I loved the outdoors,” he says, including time spent at his family’s vacation home outside Wellsboro, Pa.

Hughes is a graduate of Abington High School and Pennsylvania State University, where he knew almost instantly “I was doing the right thing” in studying landscape architecture. He also did graduate work at the University of Massachusetts.

His resumé includes jobs at plant nurseries, landscape architectural and planning firms, and the U.S. Forest Service. He has restored wetlands and woodlands and worked on suburban subdivision landscapes, meadows, and residential projects, including a highly idiosyncratic Bucks County, Pa., second home belonging to New Yorkers Todd Ruback and Suzanne Schecter.

The couple’s 2 1/2-acre property, overlooking the Delaware Canal in Upper Black Eddy, Pa., features a converted century-old barn that backs up to a gravelly 200-foot red shale cliff that was choked with exotic vines. Hughes cleared the cliff and literally carved a landscape into it, choosing wildlife-friendly plants such as Eastern prickly pear cactus, the region’s only native cactus, that grows almost exclusively along the high cliffs of the Delaware River.

“He’s not bringing in eucalyptus trees,” Ruback says. “He’s making use of what local, Bucks County nature is giving us.”

And much of what Hughes takes away from “Bucks County nature” goes toward his rustic furniture. The results, says a mentor, Daniel Mack of Warwick, N.Y., are both sturdy and playful, and demonstrate “a poetic sensibility.”

“Nobody actually needs any of these chairs. There are plenty of chairs in the world already, thank you,” says Mack, a rustic-furniture teacher and author. “You’ve gone beyond need, and you’re into another realm.”

It’s a realm, Mack says, that “engages us with the landscape in a way you don’t see with more-anonymous furniture.”

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Like agriculture, the landscaping industry has suffered in past droughts.