Archive for January 2010
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, garden writer Virginia A. Smith discusses the alternatives to having a traditional turfgrass lawn. The turfgrass lawn has been an icon of the American landscape since the mid-19th century. There is movement slowly building through the US to consider more environmentally friendly alternatives to these water-intensive, fertilizer-dependent, monoculture plantings.
Carex plantaginea. photo credit: R. Robert
At the Scott Arboretum, we have been trialing lawn alternatives for over 3 years. Our current favorites include Carex pensylanica, Carex laxiculmus Bunny BlueTM , Carex flacca ‘Blue Zinger’, and Carex plantaginea. Check out more about our program and the plants we are trailing…
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Thursday, January 14th, 2010
One of the most majestic of all the native trees in the landscape is the American planetree, Platanus occidentalis. In its native habitat the American sycamore is found in low-lying areas especially growing along rivers and streams. Its native geographic range is extensive. It can be found growing from Canada south to Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas. While in its native habitat it thrives in moist soils, it will grow in a wide variety of soils in the home garden.
At the Scott Arboretum we used to have a fantastic specimen below Sharples Dining Hall. This mature specimen had…
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Friday, January 8th, 2010
By Bill McKibben
The term “deep ecology” was coined in the 1970s and references a philosophy within the environmental movement that emphasizes the incorporation of humanity as part of ecosystems; and that the choices that people make in their daily lives affect the ecosystem in which they find themselves. Bill McKibben plays on those words with his manifesto Deep Economy, and urges the reader to think about the usual concept that having more things necessarily implies growth. McKibben’s book shows that our choices as individuals matter to our greater community of humanity and that the way we consume things, food, and…
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