Growing Greener

30/10/2024

Ecological garden activist and educator Cathy Ludden noticed that her neighbors’ non-native Hydrangea attracted so many native bees – and began her deep dive into flower structure, how humans have often manipulated it to the disadvantage of pollinators, and a fact-based approach to restoring ecological function. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/how-human-manipulation-affects-the-relationship-of-hydrangeas-and-pollinators

28/10/2024

Recently I've had some very pleasant, if somewhat disconcerting, evidence that my radio show and podcast, "Growing Greener," is having an impact. About a month ago, I was stopping in at my favorite local coffee house, Perkatory. I ignored the sign over the door – "Death Before Decaf!" – and ordered a decaf cappuccino. The fellow behind the counter asked me for a name, so that he could announce when my order was ready. I told him "Tom." He then asked me if I was Tom Christopher. Startled, I said yes. He then said that he had recognized my voice from listening to my podcast. Last Friday, when I attended a symposium of the Ecological Landscape Alliance at Wave HIll ( a gorgeous public garden in the Bronx set on 28 acres overlooking the Hudson River) three more strangers came up to ask me if I was Tom Christopher, saying they had recognized my voice from listening to Growing Greener. This is hardly a random cross-section of the public – the Ecological Landscape Alliance is filled with people who share my convictions about gardening. Still, it's great to know that my interviews are being listened to, especially by people whose opinions I respect (the barista made me a great cappuccino, even if it was decaf).

23/10/2024

Integrating native and exotic plants can enhance both beauty and ecological function in your garden. Listen to Richard Hayden, Senior Director of Horticulture at New York’s High Line discuss how this practice helps to make that magical garden the masterpiece that it is. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/a-masterful-integration-of-natives-and-exotics

16/10/2024

If you admire the beauty of our native plants and their environmental benefits but don’t want to follow the fashion for planting a wild garden, listen to Britney O’Donnell share techniques for fashioning natives into a more domesticated look, suited to a neater, more traditional landscape. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/giving-a-neater-more-domesticated-look-to-the-native-plant-garden

09/10/2024

Will Nature Heal Itself? Native plant skeptics assert that invasive species are no long-term problem because our ecosystems will evolve to accommodate them and biodiversity will revive. Paleobotanist Dana Royer shares a historical correction. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/will-nature-heal-itself

02/10/2024

It’s not either/or! Karen Bussolini of historic nursery White Flower Farm explains how combining non-native garden favorites with your native plants can make your garden richer for pollinators. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/blending-native-and-non-native-plants-to-benefit-pollinators-and-gardeners

25/09/2024

Environmentalists say traditional lawns must go, but homeowners commonly love their turf. Organic lawn specialist Shay Lunseth outlines how we can “meet in the middle,” and explains why fall is the critical season for organic lawns. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/making-lawns-non-toxic-and-environmental-contributors

18/09/2024

It’s an ancient, nature-based practice that makes your vegetable garden’s soil healthier and richer while reducing the need for fertilizers and w**d control – listen to Amanda Douridas of Ohio State University detail the use of cover crops in the home garden. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/back-to-the-future

11/09/2024

Can we move to a model of gardening that serves not just us but also all the plants and creatures with whom we share the planet? Benjamin Vogt says yes while discussing his pioneering book: A New Garden Ethic. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/a-natural-gardening-leader-speaks-out

06/09/2024

A few weeks ago I posted an episode of my "Growing Greener" podcast about the precipitous decline of bat populations and the impact that is having on populations of insect pests. Today The New York Times published a report about a study that has found that bat decline has forced farmers to increase insecticide applications by 30%, which has led to an 8% increase in infant mortality. You can help: a few simple additions to your home landscape can make it more supportive of bats:

Lee Mackenzie of the Austin Bat Refuge discusses bat' ecosystem services and how to make your landscape bat friendly

04/09/2024

My great friend and scientific inspiration Dr. Brian Stewart responded to the quote from Henry David Thoreau I ncluded in my "Growing Greener" podcast about peat bogs last week with an updated take by the Holy Modal Rounders (remember them?). "Romping Through the Swamp," here goes:

Song from the 1975 compilation album of the Fugs and The Holy Modal Rounders' first recordings together. This song was recorded in 1965 during the Fugs' "Fi...

04/09/2024

My wife, Dr. Suzanne O'Connell is in mourning for the loss of America's only deep sea scientific drilling vessel, the JOIDES Resolution. Read about the revolutionary insights this ship has provided into the history and functioning of our planet, and how the National Science Foundation has decided not to continue funding this program.

The National Science Foundation says that the JOIDES Resolution has become too costly to fund. But scientists say its $72 million annual budget pales compared with discoveries the ship has enabled.

04/09/2024

Dr. Becky Barak of the Chicago Botanic Garden is using her skills at prairie restoration in a collaborative project to create low-growing, native, and biodiverse lawn alternatives that also help mitigate the effects of climate change. Listen at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/rethinking-lawns

31/08/2024

My wife Suzanne and I had the great good fortune yesterday to visit a beautiful naturalistic garden that Duncan and Julia Brine of Garden Large have been designing and installing in Sherman, Connecticut. They have removed invasive overgrowth from a couple of acres and re-configured the landscape so that surface runoff which had plagued the site is now collected by an unobtrusive system of swales and directed via culverts into a luxuriant extension of a native wetland. The growth of the perennials, grasses, and shrubs they installed last spring has been phenomenal. After touring this horticultural tour de force with Duncan and Julia, we all retired to Tandoori Flames, a wonderful Indian restaurant in New Milford Connecticut for a feast.
P.S. Our tour of the garden included Duncan sharing the only account I have ever heard of deer actually benefiting a garden. Soon after Duncan and Julia planted the extension of the wetland, deer descended to browse selectively on the host of common boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) plants that were included. The deer reduced those plants' new growth by a half in late spring. Duncan confessed that he was initially discouraged, but what the deer did functioned like a "Chelsea Chop." The bonesets came back bushier and more compact and are now covered with bloom.

28/08/2024

Key to fighting global warming is preserving peatlands, 3% of the earth’s landmass that sequester twice as much carbon as all our forests. Alex Critchley and Sarah Johnson of The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire describe Britain’s proposed ban on selling peat-based garden products, and how gardeners can preserve and restore peat bogs. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/for-peats-sake

21/08/2024

Since 1875 American Forests has been fighting to preserve and restore our national forests. Now it’s helping communities across the United States bolster urban forests, especially in under-served neighborhoods, to protect all citizens against the impacts of climate change. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/a-founder-of-the-american-conservation-movement-evolves-to-address-contemporary-challenges

14/08/2024

It’s an arms race says Dr. Anurag Agrawal. Plants evolve toxins and other defenses while locally indigenous herbivorous insects evolve ways to evade them, creating exclusive and essential relationships between the two. Listen at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/the-coevolution-arms-race

07/08/2024

Introduced from China two decades ago, the emerald ash borer has killed more than 100 million American ash trees, devastating urban and natural forests. By enlisting other insects as allies, Dr. Claire Rutledge and colleagues are finally bringing this scourge under control. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/progress-in-the-battle-against-emerald-ash-borers