In today's NY Times, we learn that public gardens are canceling their flower shows, part of their big shift in emphasis. Forced to rethink and rebrand, gardens are appealing to visitors’ interests in nature, sustainability, cooking, health, family and the arts. Some are emphasizing their social role, erecting model green buildings, promoting wellness and staying [...]
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Posted by
Susan Harris on July 27, 2010 at 4:22 am This post has 5 responses.
Via Treehugger: What’s happening at Chelsea is a complete 180 from the frou-frou image of flowers shows. Judges gave the gold to a Rainforest Garden set in Carmeroon, designed by four women indigenous to the the disappearing forests. The silver went to an urban garden that’s improving the lives...
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Susan Harris on May 31, 2010 at 9:55 am This post has 3 responses.
Don’t miss this story about how neighborhoods are being cleaned up and communities created by the simple but bureaucratically challenging act of putting gates at the end of alleyways. And you can tell from photos like this that plants – potted or spilling over fences – are the most...
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Susan Harris on May 30, 2010 at 7:19 am This post has 13 responses.
National Public Garden Day may be new to you – it's only in its second year – but it's bringing some much- deserved and -needed attention to the places most gardenblog readers already know and love. And GardenRant's quite happy to help spread the love because we're fans. First...
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Susan Harris on May 7, 2010 at 4:03 am This post has 9 responses.
A GardenRant shout-out to Adrian Higgins at the Washington Post for his stirring endorsement of Extension Services and related Master Gardener programs. Sadly, what makes it newsworthy are the recent cuts the Virginia legislature made in state funding, which effectively guts some very successful programs in Northern Virginia. Higgins...
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Susan Harris on April 1, 2010 at 11:22 am This post has 13 responses.
A Chemical Reaction, the story of Hudson, Ontario's battle to ban garden pesticides – a battle that's now spread across most of Canada – debuted in D.C. Friday night, part of our DC Environmental Film Festival, and your intrepid blogger was there. I'd seen it once and knew it...
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Susan Harris on March 29, 2010 at 6:39 am This post has 8 responses.
Did you hear? TruGreen (formerly and more honestly called ChemLawn) signed on to sponsor Earth Day 2010 and get a nice chunk of good PR (more honestly called greenwashing). In a blog post, Paul Tukey declared "It’s all sickening, misleading and yet another example of an unfortunate sellout. Can...
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Susan Harris on March 28, 2010 at 5:23 am This post has 3 responses.
Since I wrote last week about Lowes's new garden bloggers and those of us blogging for independent garden centers, it's been fun seeing such enthusiasm for the garden-center blogs and everyone rallying to help them succeed. (Aren't we all passionate gardeners pretty much addicted to our local indie garden...
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Susan Harris on March 16, 2010 at 2:21 pm This post has 3 responses.
GardenRant readers don't need to be convinced that blogs are awesome – at least some of them, your favorites – but the big news is that the business world is getting on board the blog-train, too. Here's a couple of stellar examples of corporate blogs. What you see...
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Susan Harris on March 8, 2010 at 4:56 am This post has 26 responses.
GardenRant edition. The whole newsletter is right here. Urban Gardening on the Web Outstanding original reporting on school food by Slow Cook Ed Bruske in his Tales from a DC Kitchen. That led to this interview on the Kojo Show. Urban gardeners – all gardeners – need to know...
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Susan Harris on February 8, 2010 at 1:44 am This post has one response.
Thanks to the whole national push for healthier eating and thinner kids, politicians and regular people are rallying support for school gardens. Here's what's happening in my neck of the woods. In Montgomery County, MD: Food Deemed too Dangerous Hard as it is to believe, my county school board's...
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Susan Harris on December 21, 2009 at 5:30 am This post has 18 responses.
Finally, after four years in the making, the Sustainable Sites Initiative's rating system for design, construction and maintenance of sustainable landscapes was announced this week at the U.S. Botanic Garden in D.C. It's a rating system for any site at all – not just around buildings or throughout residential...
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Susan Harris on November 9, 2009 at 3:39 am This post has 10 responses.
GardenRant edition. The whole newsletter is right here. Feel free to admire my new front-yard fence! It's natural cedar and replaces a chain-link fence covered with English ivy (memories of which are fading fast.) Here's the before and after, with a link to waaaay before. Urban Gardening on the...
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Susan Harris on November 7, 2009 at 4:19 am This post has 6 responses.
Recently on Sustainable-Gardening.com A new section about Urban Gardening! Visit and in a comment suggest more good links, great programs, awesome stories about school and community gardens, CSAs, park renovations, farmers' markets, backyard-sharing and container/rooftop/balcony gardening. Renee Shepherd joins the website as its newest contributor. I asked her: How...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on September 12, 2009 at 4:23 am This post has 2 responses.
I'm headed to Chicago this week for the Independent Garden Center show, which turns out to be a really fun way to drool over whatever products indie garden centers are going to be carrying next season, while rubbing elbows with a few other garden writers. I'm giving a couple...
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Posted by
Amy Stewart on August 16, 2009 at 10:10 am This post has 8 responses.
GardenRant edition. The whole newsletter is available here. In the News Researchers at the USDA think they might have found a fungus that'll solve the national kudzu problem. It works SO fast that if you spray kudzu in the morning it'll show signs of damage by mid-afternoon. It's called...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on August 8, 2009 at 5:34 am This post has 3 responses.
GardenRant's absolute favorite gardening event is happening in Buffalo this weekend, so it's time for a shout-out and a "Wish I were there!" And by the way, If it isn't the best run gardening event in the whole US of A, it's gotta be right up there. I...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on July 25, 2009 at 4:52 am This post has 7 responses.
GardenRant edition. The whole newsletter is available here. In the News New evidence that ingredients in Roundup are hurting humans. Read about this big news in Scientific American. Here's news that rooftop farms are taking off in New York City, and that veg gardens are considered desirable amenities for...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on July 13, 2009 at 1:42 pm This post has 8 responses.
On the Indonesian island of Java, which has experienced massive deforestation, a new law requires all newlyweds to plant 10 trees. But get this: if they later divorce, they have to plant 50 more. Brilliant! Here’s the story.
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Posted by
Susan Harris on June 27, 2009 at 6:51 am This post has 3 responses.
GardenRant version. The whole newsletter is available here. In the News A garden is reborn – and a gardener born – in the New York Times. The popularity of tree-climbing is growing within eco-tourism circles, and according to this article, it’s considered "slow travel". Well, sure, but not if...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on June 18, 2009 at 4:30 am This post has one response.
