What I Learned from The New American Landscape

Here's my latest for Kirkus Reviews.  Click here to read Amy's interview with Benjamin Vogt about his book Sleep, Creep, Leap.

Sustainable v. traditional front yards in Santa Monica, CA

I must have read every book ever published about “sustainable gardening” – surely there aren’t any more of them! – but still I was eager to read the latest on the subject from Timber Press because the contributors are the undisputed experts on their subjects, from soils and water conservation to native plants and permaculture.  Indeed the book’s subtitle, “Leading voices on the future of sustainable gardening,” is no idle boast.

So despite my imagined overexposure to this topic, I found plenty of interesting tidbits in The New American Landscape, including the following.

Pest and pesticide experts David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth boldly state what’s so often said whispered about the horticultural advice given by universities – that it’s often tainted by the source of their funding - the chemical companies. 

Permaculture advocate Eric Toensmeier isn’t entirely happy with the Sustainable Sites Initiative requirements for LEED-like certification for landscapes because they give no credit for growing edibles.  He goes on to make an impressive case for food-growing even in the desert, showing off a Tucson garden that supplies 10-25 percent of the owner’s food using rainwater, greywater and runoff only. 

Doug Tallamy explains that insects are more important than seeds and berries for sustaining birds, writing that “Ninety-six percent of terrestrial birds in North America rear their young on insects….When they are reproducing, birds need the high-quality protein and energy-rich fat bodies produced by insects to succeed.”  (Tallamy also disproves two opposing myths about native plants, as I reported here earlier.)

Richard Darke defines “sustainable gardens” as “those that consume the fewest resources,” which makes so much sense I wonder why that definition isn’t universally accepted.  Then he jumps into the hottest topic in gardening with his take on invasive plants: “I am not comfortable with the term ‘invasive’… So-called invasive plants wouldn’t exist unless they were better adapted to current conditions than so-called native species.” Darke grows a mix of natives and nonnatives but declares that “None of the plants I grow require watering beyond initial establishment, fertilizing, or pesticides.”  He’s my kind of gardener.

 
Water-wise schoolyard in Portland, OR

Meadows expert John Greenlee, when describing the yearly cutting back required by meadows and natural lawns, recommends doing the job with a “groundcover mower or a weed eater with a blade.”  What the heck are they and where can I buy them?

Reliable predictions are that by 2013, 36 U.S. states will have chronic water shortages, so “waterwise gardening” isn’t just for the arid West anymore.  Tom Christopher reminds us that 30 percent of residential water use goes to the landscape, mostly to lawns that could and should be allowed to go dormant in the summer.  Dormancy isn’t a sign of impending death; it’s the state of “suspended animation” that keeps turfgrasses alive through weeks of summer weather.

Christopher also points out a gaping omission in the USDA’s growing zones – they reflect winter temperatures only and ignore amounts of rainfall.  “The USDA map classifies Naples, FL as identical with Victorville, CA, even though Naples receives 51.9 inches of precipitation annually while Victorville gets less than 7.” 

Christopher’s caveat about the use of mulch surprises me, though.  “In the short term, an organic mulch will reduce soil fertility because it will absorb nitrates (a major plant nutrient) from the soil as it decomposes.  For this reason, the application of such a mulch will probably increase your plants’ need for fertilization in the short term.”  Can that be true of all organic mulches, not just hard wood?  

About soil science and the details of permaculture, I found a lot here that was new to me but frankly, grasped close to none of it.  My bad, I’m sure. 

THE GIVE-AWAY
Just leave a comment and I'll choose one at random to win a copy.  Entries close tomorrow at midnight  Eastern time.

Comments

[Julie]

Wow - sounds like a must read!

[m @ random musings]

interesting - I want one of those no-maintenance gardens

[Shane T.]

I NEED this book. I want to show it off at school and infect my fellow horticulture students with good ideas.

[CEN]

Would love to read and then pass on to my bright young neighbors doing their first landscaping projects.

[Laurrie]

Sustainable landscaping is fraught with so many strong opinions and disproved truths. I'd love to read this latest addition to the conversation!

[beth gellman]

i tell people all the time not to freak out when their grass is scorched and looks dead. the author is right, it's gone dormant and will bounce back when the rains begin in the fall. we are always working against nature. it knows best.

[James]

I will definitely read this book. I'd love to add it to my library.

[crafty_cristy]

I would love to have this book. I would like to make my yard more earth-friendly.

[Katherine]

This looks very interesting... I'm just beginning to learn about sustainable landscaping.

[Andra]

I have one of these no maintenance gardens, and I still want to read this. Never enough information!

[Tara Dillard]

Historic gardening with current buzz words.

Historic gardens of Italy dwarf this book. Combining pleasure grounds in vanishing threshold with the house, groves of fruit trees, veggies, paths, focal points & etc.

Why does it matter? The complete package, previous paragraph, increases food production by 60%-80%.

How? Easy, more pollinators.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

[Genevieve]

Oh, I'd love to win. This book is so amazing that I haven't wanted to lend it out (I read portions almost daily), but I have one friend who would flip the hell out if I gave her a copy - a sustainable designer who has been waiting for it at the library. Hope I win!!

[DAY]

All too often well meaning humans try to adjust nature to a more "traditional" appearance. Frequently that is a vision of wall to wall green carpeting. With LOTS of water to maintain that look!

I confess that I find stilt grass an excellent ground cover. Loves shade, takes foot traffic, and doesn't need watering. If it gets too tall, a once or twice a year mowing teaches it some manners. Since it is an annual, make one of those mowings just before it sets seed.

Yes, yes, it is an "invasive" species, but then many of our native plants came here by the "same sneak across the border" route. Besides, if they crowd out the Mayflower Descendants, isn't that just Mister Darwin's theory at work?

[Earth Girl]

Tallamy spoke in my town last night and my small fire of native gardening is ablaze. As I read your review, I determined, budget be damned, that I would buy the book. Perhaps I will win one.

[professorroush]

Tom Christopher's comment on mulches surprises me; contrary to everything I've ever read.

[Karla]

You don't need to enter me in the contest--I've already read and reviewed this book for my local horticulture society. I just wanted to answer your query about the "groundcover mower or weed eater with a blade." You can buy blade attachments for many popular weedeaters at local hardware and even at the big box stores--they just bolt on in lieu of the string head portion. Just be sure you have a powerful motor--gas powered and not electric, say.

As for a groundcover mower, I know DR sells one. I suspect other manufacturers do as well.

[Elsa]

I'm just loving the idea that not everyone's so adamant about the "Natives only" approach. I'm tired of the lack of aesthetic diversity and the militant attitude that always accompanies a native planting.

[Margaret Wilkie]

I am of the opinion that the term invasive doesn't make sense in a already disturbed landscape, but is useful when thinking about large areas of (for lack of a better word) undisturbed or ecologically stable systems (places).

It is amazing to see how garlic mustard spreads on a path in the woods, but can't be found in the pathless areas.

[barbara]

need all the ammunition I can find to convince my spouse who grew up in the suburbs and believes in LAWNS that the meadow needs to be mowed once a year and that insects need to be respected not zapped

[Jen.]

This book is so perfect! Thanks for the chance!

[tropaeolum]

Can this be required reading in high school?

We need to change people's mindsets before they get, well, set on lawn.

I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall trying to convince my dad not to water the Kentucky blue grass during July. It's dormant, dad, NOT dead. ARGH.

[Ruth]

My local library doesn't have this book; I'd love to get a copy. I've already removed my front lawn but I can do more.

[Jeane]

I hate my lawn. Would love this book.

[Karen]

You got me at insects over berries. Interested.

[Laura Bell]

Husband looks at the slowly-browning lawn & says "More water."

I look at Husband and say, "No. Low-water plants."

We've fought this battle for years, each entrenched in the rightness of his/her own opinion. Maybe this book would give me more facts to win my side of the argument, if not to replace the lawn with a water-friendly landscape, then at least to not dump even more water onto a swath of lawn just to achieve "Suburban Green".