Landscape architects guide to your city coming soon

The American Society of Landscape Architects recently announced the launch of The Landscape Architects Guide to Washington, D.C. just the first of many across the country. Its an online, mobile-friendly guide to more than 75 historic, modern and contemporary designed spaces in D.C., with 800+ photos and expert commentary by 20 local landscape architects. It covers not just the usual touristy places but interesting sites in all parts of the city. Sixteen well planned tours, in fact.

Very cool! Itll be a great resource for our 19million annual visitors and for locals, too.

But the guide will serve another, more subtle purpose to elevate public understanding of what landscape architects actually do. As Adrian Higgins said, As with architects and engineers, much of the professions work is not apparent and deals with concerns such as circulation patterns and storm-water management and has focused increasingly in recent years on sustainable design.

One example of a designed space that isnt obviously designed is the stretch ofPennsylania Ave in front of the White House. It was closed to traffic after 9/11 and became the subject of an international competition to redesign it for pedestrian and First Amendment use while providing access to emergency vehicles and the whole inaugural migillah every four years. After the winner was chosen, dozens of planning agency meetings were needed to hammer out every imaginable detail from the exact varieties of American elms to the perfect slope of the street. I worked for that agency at the time and sat through every one of those meetings, so came to appreciate the often hidden hand of landscape architects in our lives.

Theres more about the Guide on The Dirt.

Via: Landscape architects guide to your city coming soon

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Neighborscant live with em, cant kill em

Shutterstock images

If you want to appreciate the widest possible range of opinions about gardening, talk to gardeners about their neighbors. Because, you know, nobody really wants to admit that their neighbor might have the right idea (about anything), and most of us have had mild-to-medium plant-related disagreements with the property holders on either side. I was at a party yesterday, and one of the guests was regaling groups of us with a story about a shrub border, a tree that needed trimming and two neighbors. The right-hand neighbor needed the tree to be trimmedand then some shrubs were cut back as part of an overall tidying. I wont go into details, but the upshot was that the left-hand neighbor became so outraged over the way the shrubs bordering her property were trimmed that she called the police on my friend, the party guest. (The police declined to intervene.)

Trees andsometimesshrubs are by definition neighborly plants. They have no regard for property lines. We are living in fear of our elderly sugar maple causing massive damage to the house next door, given enough windy days, and recently had it severely trimmed in hopes that its benign and surprising presence in a tight urban spot can continue. And then there are property lines, the ones that you think you have and the ones that they think they have. Plants can be big players there. The whole notion of invasive takes on a micro definition.

And then there are the stories like this one, about how persistent complaints from neighbors almost caused an entire front garden to be eradicated by city bulldozers. Fortunately it had a happy ending.

Those of you living in the wide-open spaces, with maybe no neighbors for acres, might be feeling kind of smug right now. Not so fast. One of the reasons I think Buffalo doesnt need a High Line is the incredible variety of urban plantings I can see within half a mile either way from my front door. I see mini-meadows, formal shade plantings, cottage gardens bursting with color, even elegant hardscaping, depending on which block and which house it is. (The architecture is cool too.)

And if not for neighbors, what would we talk about at parties?

(By the way, one of my neighbors has called the police on me, but not over gardening.)

Via: Neighborscant live with em, cant kill em

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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A Barren Year

More successful in 2010

Ive had hens for 5 or 6 years now, and dont plan on ever living without them again. Theyre fluffy and pretty. Their scratch-and-peck is mesmerizing and tranquilizing. Their eggs are so delicious that I can no longer eat ordinary skunky-smelling eggs in ordinary diners. Of all the denizens of my household, they are the least diva-esque, demanding amazingly little care in exchange for the food and lovely compost they produce.

As individuals, they are not high-maintenance. But as a flock, they require some management, and if you mess up, there will be blood. If you mix the wrong breeds, as I did when I started off, you may find some hens making sushi of others.

You also cant just casually introduce chicks or pullets to an existing flock. The establishment will attack. On the other hand, you do need to bring in the ingenues every other year or so, since hens age out of their prime laying time quickly. And then, if you have only limited space, what do you do with the menopausal ones?

Two years ago, when one of my hens got broody, I got some fertile eggs from my friend Rick, who has 80 acres and a big ramshakle flock that includes a rooster or two, and put them underneath her. Broody hens are amazingpregnancy as madness. Their body temperature rises. They rarely leave the nest to eat and drink. They make strange cooing sounds. Their eyes are like pinwheels. They are the suicide bombers of domestic animals. Nothing matters but the Cause.

As a technique of flock expansion, hatching out eggs worked beautifully! Even the non-broody hens helped to mother the chicks, spreading their bodies over them to keep them warm. And the chicks that eventually turned out to be roosters, Rick graciously accepted for coq au vin. A shame really, considering how beautiful they were, with spectacular shiny colorful long tail feathers. Alas, my city allows hens but not roosters.

Now, its time for another hatch. My two oldest hens arent laying like they used to and are preparing for a country retirement at Ricks. And my outdoor chicken yard more than doubled in size this year after my neighbor moved a fence and I lost a parking space. So instead of having 5 hens, I could easily manage 12.

But some years, nothing goes right. Two of my hens went broody, and I asked Rick to save me fertile eggs on a day that I was in his neighborhood. He forgot and refrigerated everything. I ordered fertile eggs from McMurrays Hatchery. In the meanwhile, my two broody hens got upset about being confined indoors during the fence rebuildingand werent broody when the eggs arrived. I bought an incubator, which my 14 year-old daughter took charge of. She was away for a weekend, and I noticed the temperature was a little low, so I turned it up. By the time we checked it again, it had risen too high. Still we perservered, turning the eggs dutifully and waiting the required 21 days for chicken gestationand then some. Nothing hatched.

My two broody hens recommenced their broodiness. Then a third hen joined them. I ordered two dozen more fertile eggs from My Pet Chicken. My Pet Chicken ignored my instructions and mailed them while I was on vacation. It took two weeks to get another batch. My hens have now sat on those eggs for four full weeks. Nothing hatched. Some problem with the post office? Who knows. There is no guarantee on fertile eggs, so I suspect this kind of thing happens a lot.

My poor hens are looking peaked from sitting and sitting and sitting with no reward. But from experience, I can tell you that its not easy to break a chicken of broodiness. And the techniques suggestedwhich include dipping a panicked hens inflamed butt into ice water to break the physiological cyclewhile they make me laugh in theory, are miserable in practice.

So Im making a last stand. I just ordered 25 live chicks from McMurrays. When they arrive, Ill try to sneak them under the broody hens behinds in such a way that they will think their eggs have hatched.

So far, 2012 has been a comedy of errors. Lets see if I can redeem it with some slight of hand.

Via: A Barren Year

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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Its a Miracle! Scotts backs off You Can Grow That

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grow the YCGT campaign!

Happy endings to stories that involve corporations vs. individuals are all too rare, so were very pleased to report that garden writer C.L. Fornari will be able to continue her You Can Grow That campaign without any opposition from Scotts Miracle-Gro.

As she just posted:

Recently the Director of Public Relations for Scotts Miracle-Gro contacted me to let me know that this company is going to let their application of the trademarking of this phrase expire. They will not pursue their application through to registration and if I, or a YCGT non-profit group would like to file for the trademark of this phrase we will be able to do so.

C.L. credits Amys great post on this (you may remember it for the title alone)Dear Scotts: Just Try, One Time, Not to be So Shittyfor at least part of Scotts change of heart. However it happened, were thrilled for her, and look forward to the continuing development of this excellent strategy for spreading the optimism about gardening.

Via: Its a Miracle! Scotts backs off You Can Grow That

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Wilson Pickett and the Pink Rose

I owe my love of pink flowers to Wilson Pickett. The rhythm and blues singer was my high school cosmic everything. Teenage boys often feel they are irrelevant. Or at least they once did. In the mid-60s, I played a white soul man to prove the point.

When I was fifteen years old, I stared at the shocking pink cover of the Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966). Wilson was bustin a dance move that I could never pull-off. (Trust me, I tried!) He looked almighty in a fine tangerine-tango orange suit, while I was stuck looking like a chump in khakis, loafers and a blue Oxford cloth shirt. Tangerine tango, after lo these many years, is the 2012 Pantone color of the year. Wilson was so ahead of this time. He would have loved Agastache Tangerine Tango.

I grew into tangerine-tango orange long before Pantone made it hip. I had a pair of snazzy pants in1969, the same color. But I couldnt make sense of that pink. It just seemed too much like a pink chiffon prom dress. The pink album cover worked for Wilson. Why didnt pink work for me?

The Exciting Wilson Pickett had a personal influence bigger than anything the Stones or the Beatles had done. On no other album, in the mid-60s, could you find bigger hits than In the Midnight Hour, Land of 1000 Dances and 634-5789. My favorite song was Ninety-Nine and a Half (Wont Do). The record was cut at STAX studios with the Memphis Horns. You can barely hear Isaac Hayes (theme from Shaft, anyone?) in the background on piano. And try to find a better opening bass and guitar line than Ninety-Nine and a Half (Wont Do). The legendary session musicians, bassist Duck Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper, performed later, with the Blues Brothers.

Over time, a long, steep climb, I threw-off my ill-conceived pink aversion. After a bumbling start with vegetable gardening, in my mid-20s, I started to grow flowers. I eased in with yellow marigolds and orange tithonias. Yellow blooms, across a color spectrum, are the most plentiful in the garden. (Damned yellow composites!) Blue flowers are scarce. I had to own up to my shortcoming. Pink slowly became part of my garden fabric. Cheddar pinks and pink hydrangeas became fair game. Now I cant resist pink muhly grass or Aquilegia canadensis Pink Lanterns. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with Peony Coral Charm. Bless you, Wilson Pickett!

Pickett was buried in my backyard in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2006. Well not quite in my backyard, but not far away in the Evergreen Cemetery. He had spent a few years of his childhood in Louisville, after his mom moved from his Alabama birthplace. Here, at the end, Wilson Pickett was stuffed into a drawer in a marble mausoleum for eternal life.

The cemetery was next door to another musicians home: Tim Krekel. The late singer-songwriter liked to wander over to the mausoleum after dark to hold sance with Wilson. Krekel wrote a song, Wilson Pickett, about the surprise of suddenly having the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer in his backyard.

I recently visited Wilson during the daytime, to pay respects and to see what was in flower. Maybe I would find something pink in bloom.

Evergreen Cemetery sits along a stretch of tires stores, fast food joints and check cashing shops on Preston Highway. Large silver maples, lopsided Bradford pears and chlorotic pines are scattered around the grounds. Vases of plastic flowers insult the departed. Yellow goldenrods and purple ironweeds breathe life, growing in a ditch at the edge of the cemetery.

One gnarly floribunda rose, wizened by the years, stood in a far corner, unblemished by powdery mildew, black spot or Japanese beetles. Single pink blooms burst forth, defiant in the late summer heat. Rosa Else Poulsen, Id like you to meet Wilson Pickett.

Special thanks to Mike Shoup of the Antique Rose Emporium for identifying Else Poulsen.

Via: Wilson Pickett and the Pink Rose

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Olympic Landscape Takes Gold

Photo by Nigel Dunnett

Sure, the London Olympics are practically ancient history by now, dozens of news cycles back. But did you hear a word about the landscape created for the Games and now enjoyed by Londoners? Me neither.

But according to the Evening Standard: The real star of the Olympic site is the landscape design. Its simply beautiful, with borders packed with mixed wildflowers, all blooming gaily thanks to the wet weather. Its hillocks and valleys, ordered by the waterways that run northsouth through the park, make it a unique place, and give a flavour of what will be a wonderful public space after the Games.

The 250 acres of wonderful space include sculptural tectonic forms, wetlands, and a species-rich meadow.

See lots more photos of the Olympic Village here. And read more about it this article in The Dirt.

Photo by Andy Harris

Via: Olympic Landscape Takes Gold

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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My new favorite botanic garden in Mexico!

Im back home after a whirlwind visit to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for my nieces wedding and my bags are still unpacked, but my photos are fully loaded and ready to post.

First up, the jardin botanico called El Charco del Ingenio, on the outskirts of town.

Between the high-desert plants, the sienna-toned architecture and religious signs like this one, this garden is otherwordly, and utterly sublime. The 220 acres include a world-famous cactus collection, indigenous plant preserve, the most imaginative childrens garden Id ever seen, ceremonial spaces and ruins, too real ones! (Chanticleer, you wish!)

I visited this past Sunday, Mexican Independence Day, when the famous Jardin in the center of town was festive with parades and brass bands, but this jardin was a quiet refuge. It came as no surprise to learn that the Dalai Lama sanctified this site as a Peace Zone.

I came home with a bad case of Agave envy!

Lots of Mexican wildflowers were familiar to me theyre annuals back home.

Some flowering plants I didnt recognize.

This botanic garden comes with a canyon.

The Childrens Garden includes the stunning Pollinators Garden above and below. Think this would work in Maryland?

More cool features in the Childrens Garden.

Via: My new favorite botanic garden in Mexico!

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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Let the bulbs begin

Who the hell knows what kind of winter well be having in this formerly snow-identified corner of New York, but there will certainly be a few months of dormancy. This is what bulb season is for. Its the closest I can get to real gardening (other than houseplant maintenance) during the cold months. In this scenario, I turn fall into sort of a bogus spring planting season, ordering hundreds of bulbs that will either a., go into the ground, b., go into big pots, c., go into vases for root cellar forcing, d. go into vases for indoor growing. I can easily get through close to 1000 bulbs this wayand it would be almost twice as many if I had a big space to fill up with crocuses. (Its really lucky for our fiscal health that I dont.)

Bulb forcing is not something you hearmuch about in current gardening practice. I understand whyI suppose to many it seems fussy, old-fashioned, and maybe wasteful, as forced bulbs have limited reuse potential. Tazettas cant be reused at all, and hyacinths will usually need a year to recover before they can grow in the ground after forcing. I know many who buy previously forced daffodils and tulips from the local botanical gardens; I dont know how they do with them.

Nonetheless, I have been trying to get the word out about alternative ways to use bulbs. This month, I have articles in Leaf (click to read the fall issue of this digital mag) on hyacinth and tazetta forcing and in Fine Gardening (11/12 issue, which will be on stands this week) on growing tulips in big pots, which isnt forcing but does help avoid some of the pitfalls of in-ground planting.

You may remember there was a silly promotional campaign for bulbs a few months back. I didnt like the campaign, but I rabidly endorse its basic premise. Bulbs are cool. People should use them more.

P.S. Leaf is a much cooler mag than my little bulb how-to might lead you to believe. Be sure to browse the whole thing and dont miss the article on corn whisky.

Via: Let the bulbs begin

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Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Read More

Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

Weve long marveled at the amazing holding power of tendrils like those of cucumbers, but scientists have been unsure about what makes them twist. This very cool video employs time-lapse techniques and mechanical models to show us how. From NPRs Science Friday.

Just click that little play button. The video format is Quicktime, so doesnt look like the Youtube videos were used to.

Via: Unraveling the Mystery of the Cucumber Tendril

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Stanford Organic Study Ignores Variety Differences

More nutritious because of the holes? Possibly.

Rant readers, please welcome Dr. John Reganold of Washington State University, who has done groundbreaking work demonstrating the value of organic agriculture, including studies that show a correlation between the quality of the soil and the quality of the food it produces. In the wake of the recent furor over a Stanford University review study comparing the healthfulness of organic and non-organic foods, which found little evidence that organic foods are more nutritious, I asked him for his thoughts on the Stanford groups conclusions.

Q: What do you think of the Stanford organic study?

A: Since 2000, there have been at least 12 review studiesmeta-analyses of previous studieslooking at the nutritional quality of organic versus conventionally grown foods. And nine of these studies have found some evidence that organic food is more nutritious. Just three have concluded that there is no consistentdifference or that there is a lack of strong evidence. Another study led by Dr. Kirsten Brandt of Newcastle University that I think is the best study found that organic fruits and vegetables are more nutritious. It didnt receive much press when it was published last year, by the way.

One of the differences between the two review studies was whether they included comparisons between different varieties of the same crop, which can vary greatly in terms of nutrition. In the Stanford study, 60% of the comparisons used were between the same cultivar, so presumably 40% were not. Brandt was more picky and only compared like cultivars.

Looking at the big picture, Im glad the Stanford group did the study. They are spurring debate, and I think that is good. While they found that there is a lack of strong evidence for the nutritional superiority of organic foods, they also found that consuming organic food can reduce your exposure to pesticides and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Q: The New York Times piece about the Stanford study mentioned that it neglected to include thestrawberry study you led. That study found that there is a connection between the nutritional quality of strawberriesas well as their flavorand soil quality, including the biomass and activity of soil microbes. And that on both fronts, organic wins. In the past, you also were part of a long-running apple study that connected the quality of the fruit with the greater diversity of nematode species in organic soil. Do you think well ever establish once and for all the connection between healthier food and healthier, livelier soil?

A: People think that if you have healthy soil, you have healthy food, but its very difficult to prove. In the case of strawberries, we did show that healthier soils produce healthier food. Does that mean that healthier soils produce healthier food in general? We cant say that.

Q: The Stanford study didnt mention flavor. Your research is unusual in that it considers flavorand has found that organic does taste better.

A: There havent been many taste tests done. My strawberry study did find better flavor in the organics. But the results of other taste tests have not been conclusive.

Q: Okay, as a gardener, I know my homegrown organic produce tastes better than supermarket food, and I have faith that its more nutritious, too, thanks to my beautiful soil and all the creatures in it. But I do find that Stanford study disheartening.

A: Keep on gardening! The Stanford study did find some results that suggest that organic food is better for your health. Youre also reducing the environmental costs of your food, in part because you dont have to drive to the store to buy it. And that connection to the land that we develop when we grow our own food improves our feeling for the whole planet.

Via: Stanford Organic Study Ignores Variety Differences

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