gardens and landscaping | Gardening

Good landscaping can add up to 28 percent to the overall value of a house, says landscape economist John Harris, and cut its time on the market 10 to 15 percent. Even taking your landscaping to the next level, upgrading from “good” to “excellent,” in terms of design, condition, and placement, can add six to seven percent to a home’s value, according to a Clemson University study.

But don’t landscape merely to flip a house. You won’t get your money back, Sandy MacCuish, a California appraiser, tells us. Instead landscape for your enjoyment (Did you know trees reduce stress in just five minutes?), knowing that you’re making a good investment.

Listed are a few essential elements and a few nice-to-haves for value-adding and beautiful landscaping:

Essential #1: Trees

Maybe only Mother Nature can make a tree, but the National Tree Benefit Calculator can tell you what it’s worth. Your trees can even add value to your neighbor’s property.

A Portland, Ore., study found that trees with a sizable canopy growing within 100 feet of other houses added about $9,000 to their sale price and shaved two days off its time on the market.

Of course, to add value, the trees must be healthy, mature but not elderly, native to the area (more on the importance of native plants later), and appropriate to the neighborhood.

If you’re growing a forest and the rest of the neighborhood looks like a prairie, you’ll have a hard time recovering the trees’ value at sale. If your neighbor’s manicure their lawns and yours is a jumble of weeds or worse, their great landscaping will make yours look even shabbier and hurt the value of your home, says Domenich Neglia of Neglia Appraisals in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Just three properly placed trees could save you between $100 and $250 a year in energy costs, says the U.S. Department of Energy. Planting windbreaks and shade trees can reduce winter heating bills by 15 percent and air conditioning needs by 75 percent.

Just looking at trees produces “significant recovery from stress” within five minutes, according to a Texas AM University study.

Essential #2: Native Plants

If you introduce trees, plants, or shrubs, go native. Indigenous plantings thrive without the extra TLC (time and money) you’ll devote to anything that’s forced to live outside its natural habitat.

A study by Applied Ecological Services Inc., a Wisconsin ecological consultancy, shows maintaining an acre of native plants over 20 years costs $3,000, compared with the whopping $20,000 price tag of maintaining a lawn of non-native turf grass.

Native plantings help wildlife, too. The National Wildlife Federation awards a special certification to homeowners who create natural backyard habitats for birds, butterflies, and other animals looking for places to roost or feed.

Rain gardens with native plants and trees also are becoming a plus for properties increasingly plagued by extreme weather. These gardens filter and distribute runoff underground, preventing storm water from seeping into basements and overwhelming municipal sewers.

Essential #3: Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting consistently tops the list of most wanted outdoor features. In an annual What Home Buyers Really Want survey, 41 percent rate it “essential;” 49 percent say it’s “desirable.” But that’s not the only reason it’s one of our landscape essentials.

Tasteful lighting paints your home at night, highlighting your other great landscaping choices and directing guests to your home’s focal point — the front door. It protects against slips and falls.

It makes a property a more difficult target for intruders. That added security can reduce burglaries, and therefore claims. Some insurance companies give five to 15 percent discounts to homeowners with reduced or zero claims.

It makes your home feel homier. Soft lighting on a wrap-around porch or just a front stoop feels warm and inviting.

Just of few of the extra “nice to haves” are fencing, retaining walls and terracing and walkways.

Article prepared and submitted by Lisa J. Heyer, owner/broker with Jackson Realty.

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Study Identifies Garden Plants Most Attractive to Insect Pollinators

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21 Oct 2013 11:59
Written by Press Release
Category: Environmental

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–October 21, 2013. A study conducted by Sussex University researchers has identified the garden plants most attractive to pollinating insects. The study’s findings are important as pollinating insects are declining globally and are facing growing habitat losses. The study also gives vital scientific information to individuals and communities on plants that are most beneficial to pollinators. Although creating pollinator friendly habits is an important step to slowing pollinator population decline, environmental groups and activists are focused on addressing the underlying problem that leads to pollinator population loss: the continuous use of toxic pesticides.

The study, Quantifying variation among garden plants in attractiveness to bees and other flower-visiting insects, published in Functional Ecology, collected data over two summers by counting flower-visiting pollinators on 32 popular garden plant varieties to determine which varieties are more attractive to pollinators. The study found that the most attractive flowers are 100 times more attractive than the least attractive flowers. According to the study, the most attractive flowers are borage, lavender, marjoram, and open-flower dahlias. Majoram was the best all-round flower, attracting honey bees, bumble bees, other bees, hover flies, and butterflies. While information on pollinator friendly flowers is widely available, this study was designed to, “put that advice on a firmer scientific footing, by gathering information about the actual number of insects visiting the flowers to collect nectar or pollen,” according to study co-author Francis Ratnieks, Ph.D., quoted in a BBC article.

The study’s findings have several interesting implications. First, planting pollinator friendly plants does not involve extra cost or gardening effort, or loss of aesthetic attractiveness, as these flowers are not more expensive or more time consuming to plant than non-pollinator friendly flowers. The study authors acknowledge that while their sample of 32 plants is limited, the results should encourage further research to develop more scientific understanding of those flowers most attractive to insect pollinators. This study can also help cities and towns plan which flower varieties to plant in parks and public spaces so they can increase biodiversity and support pollinators.

Beyond Pesticides recently released its own BEE Protective Habitat Guide, which provides information on creating native pollinator habitat in communities, eliminating bee-toxic chemicals, and other advocacy tools. This habitat guide is part of the BEE Protective campaign launched by Beyond Pesticides this past Earth Day. The grassroots campaign is part of a larger effort to protect bees from rapid declines spurred by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other hazards associated with pesticides. The launch came one month after beekeepers, Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, and Pesticide Action Network North America filed a lawsuit against EPA calling for the suspension of certain neonicotinoid pesticides.

Pesticides, specifically neonicotinoids, have increasingly been linked to bee declines. These chemicals are used extensively in U.S. agriculture, especially as seed treatment for corn and soybeans. Agriculture is not the only concern however, as pesticide applications in home gardens, city parks, plant nurseries, and landscaping are also prime culprits in the proliferation of these harmful chemicals. The systemic residues of these pesticides not only contaminate pollen, nectar, and the wider environment, but have repeatedly been identified as highly toxic to honey bees.

A recent example of neonicotinoids’ toxic effects on bees was the massive bee death in Wilsonville, Oregon. 50,000 bumblebees were found dead or dying in a shopping mall after dinotefuran, a neonicotinoid pesticide, was applied to nearby trees. After this incident the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) placed a temporary restriction on the use of pesticides with the active ingredient dinotefuran and the Oregon State University Extension Service revised its publication, “How to Reduce Bee Poisonings from Pesticides”. The publication contains research and regulations pertaining to pesticides and bees and describes residual toxicity periods for several pesticides. Though this temporary restriction and revised guide are important steps that acknowledge the effects neonicotiniod pesticides have on pollinators, they should only be viewed as the initial steps towards a complete ban on neonicotinoid pesticides.

Take Action: Beyond Pesticides’ BEE Protective campaign has all the educational tools you need to stand up for pollinators. Some specific ways you can help are:

Join us in asking Lowe’s and Home Depot and other leading garden centers to take action and stop the sale of neonicotinoids and plants treated with these chemicals.
Tell your member of Congress to support the Save America’s Pollinators Act.
Sign the Pesticide Free Zone Declaration and pledge to maintain your yard, park, garden or other green space as organically-managed and pollinator friendly.
Use our model resolution to transform your community and raise awareness about pollinator health.

For information on what you can do to keep the momentum going, see www.BEEprotective.org.

Sources: BBC, http://www.beyondpesticides.org

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

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Native Landscaping vs. Exotic Landscaping: What Should You Do?

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Looking around your neighborhood, you probably see front and backyards dominated by turfgrass and ornamental plants that are not native to the region. Native species are plants and animals present within a given area prior to European contact. Non-native (or exotic) plants or animals are defined as those species that were not present before European contact. The impact of urban landscaping on biodiversity may warrant altering conventional or “exotic” urban landscaping to emphasize native landscaping. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life and its processes. Biodiversity includes species diversity, habitat diversity, and genetic diversity.

Stokes Aster (Stokesia laevis), a flowering native plant that can be used in landscaping. Credit: UF/IFAS Photo: Tyler Jones

The conventional approach of landscaping with turf and ornamentals affects biodiversity in two ways: 1) it limits the diversity of native species in urban areas dominated by turf and ornamentals, and 2) it can affect surrounding natural environments, altering habitats in ways that exclude native plants and animals.

Let’s first look within the city limits. Simply put, landscapes dominated by turfgrass and non-native ornamental plants create an artificial environment that offers very little opportunity for most native species to thrive. A monoculture of turfgrass infused with non-native ornamentals excludes native plants and provides little to no habitat for most wildlife. However, biodiversity measures improve with the use of native plants. For example, more native plants serve as host plants for native butterfly larvae. Overall, the diversity of native plants improves urban biodiversity by simultaneously creating wildlife habitat and increasing the presence of native plants.

Looking beyond the boundaries of cities, the use of turf and some ornamental plants can negatively affect biodiversity of surrounding habitat. Non-native species that invade and impact natural areas are called “invasive exotics.” Most invasive exotic plants in the United States were originally introduced as ornamentals in urban areas and then escaped and became established in surrounding natural areas. We are not saying that all non-native plants are necessarily bad, but today’s non-listed exotic could become tomorrow’s invasive species. Further, the maintenance of lawns and exotic plants with an array of insecticides, fertilizers, and herbicides can also affect biodiversity. With insecticides and herbicides, most people use these chemicals to keep other plants out and to keep turfgrass and ornamentals healthy and alive. The end result is usually the eradication of native plants and insects. For example, many insecticides are not specific to the pest insect and kill many of our native pollinators such as bees, beetles, wasps, and butterflies.

The Precautionary Principle: Some will argue that evidence of impacts by exotics is not conclusive and exceptions occur. Further, they argue that if homeowners and the landscaping industry managed lawns and ornamentals appropriately, we could minimize our impact on natural environments. However, the risk is great, and thus the precautionary principle may be most appropriate here. Essentially the precautionary principle states that “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, the absence of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.” Maybe we should look at each ornamental plant as a “risk” and overall, reduce the number of non-native plants installed in our own yards.

Certainly, non-natives do have their place (e.g., vegetable gardens, turfgrass for recreation, and exotic flowers for show), but the dominance of exotic vegetation is at the expense of our natural heritage. Alternatives do exist and people are increasingly interested in sustainable options. Become the first in your neighborhood to switch your landscaping practices and incorporate more natives into the yard!

Portions of this blog were first published as an article in the Journal of Extension: “Native Landscaping vs. Exotic Landscaping: What Should We Recommend?”

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Kodiak clears trees to expand cemetery – Fairbanks Daily News

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James Brooks

Cemetery Work

A memorial atop a grave in Kodiak City Cemetery proclaims: “Where gardens grow, God walks.” Loggers have cut down a number of trees that formerly shrouded the cemetery in shade. City officials say the work is intended to open more space within the cemetery. (AP Photo/Kodiak Daily Mirror, James Brooks)

James Brooks

Cemetery Work

An ax sticks out of a stump next to a can of gasoline and a bottle of oil Monday, Oct. 14, 2013 at the Kodiak City Cemetery. Contractors have cleared the cemetery of a stand of trees as part of a plan to clean up the cemetery, city officials said. (AP Photo/Kodiak Daily Mirror, James Brooks)

Posted: Sunday, October 20, 2013 12:30 pm

Kodiak clears trees to expand cemetery

James Brooks / Kodiak Daily Mirror

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KODIAK, Alaska — On a grave decorated with flowers and a single pink flamingo, there was a small plaque: “Where gardens grow, God walks.”

Until Monday, that grave and plaque were shaded by towering green spruce trees. No more.

Tree-cutters have brought down most of the trees that dominated the northern half of the Kodiak City Cemetery, an effort that comes as the city of Kodiak attempts to open more space for graves on Hospital Hill.

“It may look like an expansion, but it’s really not,” said city manager Aimee Kniaziowski.

Tree cutting for the new nursing home next to the cemetery exposed some trees vulnerable to blow-down, she said. In addition, the city wanted to use the opportunity to remove obstacles from within the cemetery.

“It’ll allow us to increase the density,” city parks and recreation director Charlie Powers said.

The city places cemetery maintenance under the aegis of the parks and recreation department, which is supervising the work and will use its own staff to remove stumps.

Powers could not provide an exact estimate of how close to capacity the cemetery is, but he said a rough guess is about 60 percent.

Eventually, Kniaziowski said, the city will begin to start planning a new cemetery, something that will be a challenge given the city’s lack of open space and lack of topsoil.

Powers said tree-cutting should be complete within a week, and parks crews will remove stumps throughout the winter.

Kniaziowski and Powers said there are no plans to install screening landscaping between the cemetery and the nursing home, which is likely to house the terminally ill.

“Nobody had any potential issues with it,” Kniaziowski said. “They didn’t express any concerns.”

___

Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com

More about Kodiak

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Augusta men to embark on slow-speed cross-country trek to raise hunger …

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5:51 PM

Augusta men to embark on slow-speed cross-country trek to raise hunger awareness

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — In what could be the slowest cross-country money and awareness-raising trip on wheels, Dan Emery and Myles Chung will set out in the cold and snow of January to explore hunger and how to end it.

Myles Chung and Dan Emery on Thursday with a Honda Ruckus in Augusta. The pair plan to ride on scooters across the county next year.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Additional Photos Below

Donations for hunger awareness trek

Augusta residents Dan Emery and Myles Chung plan a nearly year-long, 48-state trip exploring hunger issues and solutions, on motor scooters, starting in January.

Those wishing to donate to, or follow the progress of, their American Community Project trip may do so online at www.acproject.org.

They’ll ride five-horsepower motor scooters which, on a good day, unladen with 48-weeks worth of gear, have a top speed around 40 miles per hour.

The two young Augusta men figure the Honda Ruckus scooters will be a good way for them to see the country and the agriculture-based hunger solutions they’re seeking on their 48-state, 48-week trip.

As well as a good way for them to be seen, and thus, they hope, bring attention to their message and mission.

“No one has done it before, so we think it should be just crazy enough to get some attention,” Emery said of the cross-country, and back, moped trip.

They don’t have any illusions their trip itself will end hunger as they travel across the country. Rather, they hope to speak to people both hungry and those working to end hunger as they go, learning things they might be able to implement elsewhere, including Maine.

They’re focusing not on simply giving people food, but on agriculture-based hunger solutions, such as school, urban and community gardens, gardening classes, seed initiatives, gardening kits and edible landscaping.

During the trip they plan to visit farms, schools, food banks, shelters, Rotary Clubs, credit unions and other organizations working to end hunger.

Emery noted addressing hunger is key, because students who are hungry aren’t likely to be able to focus on learning, workers who are hungry won’t be able to focus on their work and people who are hungry won’t be able to focus on improving themselves and their lives.

Emery, 30, whose term on the Augusta City Council ends in January, just before the trip starts, works at Maine State Credit Union and is a member of Augusta Rotary.

He became interested in exploring potential hunger solutions both as a city councilor and through his work with the credit union which, with other Maine credit unions, raises money and awareness about hunger. Since 1990, the Credit Union Campaign for Ending Hunger has raised $4.8 million, according to the Maine Credit Union League.

But despite those efforts, Emery said, hunger has grown over the years.

“It always seems like something is missing, that there’s a piece not being taken care of,” Emery said of efforts to end hunger. “The need continues to grow. It’s more complicated than just giving someone food.”

They hope to learn how to fill in that missing piece on their trip.

And the two unmarried friends are in many ways putting their lives on hold to do so. And leaving their jobs behind, as well.

Chung, 21, works at Sweet Chilli Thai restaurant in Augusta, is taking college courses and aspires to be a writer.

“I’m at the right time and place where I can give away a year of my life for something of this magnitude and importance,” he said.

One reason he’s motivated to go on the trip is to encourage healthy eating habits. About a year and a half ago, he weighed 280 pounds. He started eating healthy and is now down to 192 pounds, he said.

“I want to get my message across that once you can think for yourself and take care of your body, it’s not that hard to do,” Chung said of eating healthy.

Their scooters will only reach speaks of 40 mph, at best, so the two plan to stick to back roads, which they think will also make it easier for them to connect with people in communities along the way.

(Continued on page 2)

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Augusta men to embark on slow-speed cross-country trek to raise hunger …

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5:51 PM

Augusta men to embark on slow-speed cross-country trek to raise hunger awareness

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

Myles Chung and Dan Emery on Thursday with a Honda Ruckus in Augusta. The pair plan to ride on scooters across the county next year.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan