The New American Landscape - Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening

Thomas Christoper edited an enlightening book filled with New Year's Resolutions for gardeners.

"The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening" is a new release from Timber Press - just in time to help us plan next year's garden with the world in mind, not just our own landscapes.

The authors:

John Greenlee and Neil Diboll on the new American meadow garden.


Rick Darke on balancing natives and exotics in the garden.

Doug Tallamy on landscapes that welcome wildlife.

Eric Toensmeier on the sustainable edible garden.

David Wolfe on gardening sustainably with a changing climate.

Christopher opens the introduction with the observation that gardeners' intention is to enrich the earth. but we tend to nurture that desire by the use of fossil fuels. We tend lawns and nurse plants from outside our planting zone, neglecting the plants from our own area.

Sustainability "is to meet the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs." We, as gardeners must learn to use plants, methods, technologies and materials, that cause no harm to the earth.

Seems like a good philosophy to apply to all plant and materials purchases in the upcoming year. Less irrigation, less mowing, less fertilizer, less herbicide, fewer exotic species that can become invasive, and more native plants that require little care.

David Deardorff & Kathryn Wadsworth teach insect and disease prevention in chapter 1
Thomas Christopher, explains SITES, Sustainable Sites Initiative in chapter 2
John Greenlee and Neil Diboll explains alternatives to lawns in chapter 3
Rick Darke helps us choose native plants in chapter 4
Eric Toensmeier examines edible, diverse and useful plants in chapter 5
David W. Wolfe explains gardener's issues with climate change in chapter 6
Thomas Christopher will help you reduce your water bill in chapter 7
Edmund C Snodgrass and Linda McIntyre show the way to green roofs in chapter 8
Douglas W. Tallamy shows the value of food plants for all species in chapter 9
Elain R. Ingham illuminates soil and the soil web in chapter 10
Toby Hemenway pulls it all together in chapter 11

You'll have your mind opened and learn ways to make gardening easier and more sustainable.
"The New American Landscape - Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening", 256 pages, hardback, Timber Press, 2011, $35 list and $23 from online booksellers.

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