Looking for a sample of what we include in our monthly gardening newsletter? Or looking for an old issue? You’ve come to the right place.
Organizations that support ecological landscaping:
HomeGrown National Park: Doug Tallamy’s organization to empower homeowners to improve the ecological value of their home landscapes.
North Carolina Native Plant Society: North Carolina organization advocating for the increased use of native plants via education, garden tours and conservation efforts. Their recommended plant list is a fantastic starting place for narrowing which plants would be good fits for your landscape. The Southern Piedmont chapter meets on a monthly basis at Reedy Creek Nature Center in Charlotte.
Podcasts:
Away to Garden: New York Times Gardening columnist weekly podcast on a variety of gardening topics. She has fantastic guests across a wide range (not necessarily eco focused) of topics.
Growing Greener: Thomas Christopher’s environmental gardening focused podcast. Like Away to Garden, Thomas has top notch guests with interesting conversation.
Recommended reading:
Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Doug Tallamy: This book is one of the best at explaining the connection between plants (both in the wild and what we choose to plant in the landscape around our homes) and the health of local wildlife. If you have ever wondered why we see fewer lightening bugs or butterflies relative to our childhood, this is a must read.
Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher: If Bringing Nature Home teaches us that plant choice can have a dramatic choice on the health of our local ecosystems, this book teaches you how to implement that change.
Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Ranier and Claudia West: Similar to Garden Revolution, this book also addresses how to design and build plantings that are more resilient and beneficial to the local environment.
Meristem blog: Blog by Dr. Jared Barnes covering a range of horticulture topics. As a university professor, all of his posts are very detailed and go further into the “why”. I always feel smarter after reading what he has written. He also has a newsletter you can subscribe to, which includes some information from him as well articles that he finds informative.
Garden Professors: Blog by several university garden professors, that has science based garden information and dispels many common garden myths. If you like to know the “why” as opposed to the “how or what”, this is the blog for you.