phenology: telling time by nature’s clock, with cary institute

Since the book “Planting in a Post-Wild World” came out in 2015, co-authored by Claudia West with Thomas Rainer, I’ve been gradually studying their ideas and starting to have some light bulbs go off, on how to be inspired to put plants together in the ways that nature does, in layered communities.Claudia joined me on the July 17, 2017 edition of my public-radio show and podcast to about some of the practical, tactical aspects of plant community-inspired designs that we can app

We’d been to hear another old friend, Dan Hinkley, speak at nearby Berkshire Botanical Garden’s annual lecture with several hundred other winter-weary types, and afterward gone off with Dan and friends to eat.We didn’t really talk plants at the meal; nine crazy gardeners traded pet stories. I know—insane. Either we are getting old and soft, or have spent too much time on Cute Overload. But the next morning my breakfast guest and I shifted from zoology to botany, stirred up by a few of Dan’s slides, including one of Mukdenia rossii ‘Crimson Fans,’ a shade plant Dan’s helped bring to market as

If you mark down observations about nature year to year—what blooms when, what the weather is doing at the time, what birds or other animals and insects appear or depart on certain dates—and compare them, then you are at least informally practicing phenology. Phenology is the study of recurring life-cycle stages among plants and animals, and also of their timing and relationships with weather and climate, according to the USA National Phenology Network, which also calls this system of interactions “nature’s calendar.”It’s not the actual dates on a calendar, of course—not things like “plant peas at St. Patrick’s Day,” or “sow tomatoes indoors at tax time” that I use as approximate guidelines when writing my monthly chores lists—but factors including daylength, temperature, and rainfall that affect what happens when year to year, and can serve as cues for the gardener. Nature doesn’t read the printed calendar like we do; I’m not sure what the hellebores and snowdrops (top photo) are trying to tell me out back t

By choosing seed farmed in conditions like my own–without chemicals, and if possible, in a geographically similar environment–I can contribute less to the pollution caused by conventional seed growing, and also make a happy “match” between the seeds and my garden. Read the “New York Times” story, and if you feel inclined, share it. My latest public-radio show, produced with Robin Hood Radio, digs into the subject, too.Categoriesedible plants from seed organics vegetables.

Research from the nearby Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, reveals how acorns initiate a complex series of ecological chain reactions. And not just the obvious ways, like feeding turkeys or chipmunks or deer, but in influencing Gypsy moth outbreaks and tick-borne disease risk, and even the reproductive success of ground-nesting songbirds.Dr. Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist from Cary Institute, helped me understand what–both seen and unseen–is going on with those tiny acorns and their mighty, wide-ranging influences. Read along as you listen to the Oct. 19, 2015 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).my q&a on acorns’

You may recall my previous conversations with Thomas, the co-author with Claudia West of the provocative 2015 book “Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes.” Even though we both have worked around plants for many years, it’s as if Thomas sees them differently from the way I do, in a sort of super-savvy botanical 3-D. He doesn’t see them as mere decorative objects, but astutely reads their body language for clues to who they want to grow with (or not) and how to put them all together successfully.I love how he sees, and thinks, as you can glean from our lively Q&A, where he says things like this:And this:Though not intentionally so, the Times article turns out to be especially timely—and not just because it’s early spring, and we gardeners need to make smarter choices

Kate Spring, and her husband, Edge Fuentes, founded Good Heart Farmstead in Vermont in 2013, which serves up to 100 customers each season who subscribe to their CSA share program. Their farm is a hybrid business structure called an L3C, a low-profit, limited-liability company, where part of the mission is to support Vermonters in need of food access.Kate’s also a writer and the only person I know with her very own brand new yurt, which I couldn’t wait to hear about after having seen it be constructed on her Instagram.Read along as you listen to the December 14, 2020 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).mastering microgree

Read along as you listen to the June 26, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).evaluating monarda with george coombs of mt. cubaQ. We’ve talked before on the show about your past trials of other native plants like Baptisia and Heuchera—and native plants are the mission of Mt. Cuba, which is both a garden for visiting and a research center, right?A. Mt. Cuba Center is actually a former du Pont family estate, the Copeland family estate, and they left their estate to become a public garden. What kind of sets us apart from others in the area is that we focus on native plants. We broadly define our nativity region as the Eastern United States.We do a lot of work promoting plants in a display capacity in the gardens itself, and then we also do research like what I do, trying to help

When do I feed flower bulbs? Generally feed bulbs when their foliage pokes through the ground, in early spring, with an all-natural organic formula labeled for bulbs. You basically topdress the area; that is, sprinkle it and maybe scratch it around gently at most, but don’t work it in roughly, so as not to harm the bulbs, but let the fertilizer mellow gradually itself. Don’t forget to feed your garlic bulbs in the vegetable garden, too.When can I cut off flower bulb foliage? Don’t trim back foliage until the bulb is done with it—until the foliage fades naturally, nourishing the bulb below in the process. If the bulbs didn’t need its foliage it would wither it sooner itself. Be patient, because trimming back foliage too soon is one possible reason

Longtime disease ecologist Dr. Richard Ostfeld of Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies took me through the complex system of animal interactions, the effects of a warming climate, and other factors in the tick-borne disease equation, including advice on when and how to be alert.Admittedly, most of the pests readers ask me about are ones that feast on plants, but this one is not phytophagous but rather hematophagous, feasting on blood:“Ticks: the foulest and nastiest creatures that be.”So said Pliny the Elder, the Roman scholar who wrote a massive na

That the presence of lichens is very good news comes on the authority of lichenologist Dr. James Lendemer, Assistant Curator in New York Botanical Garden’s Institute of Systematic Botany. Lichens, one of the earliest forms of land-dwelling life on earth, should be all around you in a healthy ecosystem: on bark, on mossy areas and other spots where the soil may be thin, on wood, and even defiantly on stones. They play key roles in keeping an environment in balance, too.Read my conversation with James as you listen to the June 8, 2015 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Read more at the bottom of the page about the new lichen

Little did she know that Grandpa Roach called me “Marge the Boss” starting when I was about 5, owing to my take-charge inclinations, apparently. (Don’t get my younger sister started on this subject.) Browning also calls me “a natural teacher,” which especially delights me, and recommends the book for both “longtime tillers” and “new gardeners,” which was what I aimed for in choosing what to include, and how to write about it. Read her review for yourself. (Share it!)CategoriesBook.