From referencing the worlds of such famous writers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Octave Mirbeau, Marcel Proust or George Luis Borges, American Indian legends, or the Sufi tale of the Conference of the Birds, to physically evoking the paths travelled by our thoughts — the festival’s gardens unveil a bounty of treasures.

The diverse, talented teams behind this year’s creations — from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Korea and United States — span many disciplines. Landscapers, gardeners, architects and urban planners have worked alongside set designers, directors, graphic designers, an anthropologist, a geographer, a cabinetmaker and even a plumassier, notes Chantal Colleu-Dumond, Director of the Domain and International Garden Festival. Opening to the public on April 24th, visitors will be able to discover innovative conceptions, including green architectures, a radically contemporary International Klein Blue Japanese meditation garden, a spectacular red anamorphosis, a sculptural book of sand, a unique spiral architecture, a contemporary cloister decked out with sublime “feather flowers” and a delicate kokedama representing neurons. By the mathematicians and poets of OULIPO (which stands for Workshop of Potential Literature), a nod to surrealism in their “Jardin des voyelles” or “Garden of vowels.” With botanical flair, Pascal Garbe and Didier Willery celebrate the pansy (Viola) in all its states – a play on the French word “pensée”, which means both “thought” and “pansy”.

“ . . . a spellbinding combination of ideas, inventions and plant-inspired poetry,” 

llustration of one of twenty three gardens selected for this year’s festival from nearly 300 submissions, inspired by The Book of Sand. by Jorge Luis Borges.  “The Book of Sand leads us in a labyrinthine ambulant, without true beginning nor end. The sand draws and redraws indefinitely the proposed landscape.”  — Le Collectif MoonwalkLocal & L’association Paysagistes sans Frontières

Chaumont-sur-Loire’s annual fete has become internationally renowned — a veritable beacon of fresh, artful, forward looking, environmentally enlightened possibilities for our natural and cultivated environs.

Generously set en plein air within Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire’s beautiful historic grounds, the Festival’s landscape installations are designed to evolve throughout their exhibition to reach their peak in autumn, through to the last day of the competition (November 4th in 2018.)

Many of the concepts and ideas “planted” in the Festival’s gardens continue to grow and propagate. You can see one such fanciful, functional and sustainable example in the video below, from the Festival’s 20th edition, “Gardens of the Future or The Art of Happy Biodiversity.”

Click on the image of Festival posters (below) to survey up to ten years of the Festival’s highly evocative editions.

Click here to learn more about “Gardens of Thought” and Domaine de Chaumont-Sur-Loire’s 27th edition: Festival International Des Jardins.

Click here to learn more about Domaine de Chaumont-Sur-Loire’s beautiful Chateau, Historic Grounds, and its highly acclaimed Art & Nature Centre.

Forests don’t have to be far-flung nature reserves, isolated from human life. Instead, we can grow them right where we are — even in cities. Eco-entrepreneur and TED Fellow Shubhendu Sharma grows ultra-dense, biodiverse mini-forests of native species in urban areas by engineering soil, microbes and biomass to kickstart natural growth processes. Follow along as he describes how to grow a 100-year-old forest in just 10 years, and learn how you can get in on this tiny jungle party.

Interactive Transcript

About Shubhendu Sharma

Straw bale garden – Photo: Grady James, CC

For gardeners with limited mobility, poor soil conditions, or limited space to garden, straw bale gardening may be the way to go, according to University of Illinois Extension educator Elizabeth Wahle.

For straw bale gardening, a few basic materials are required: straw bales, as opposed to hay bales, which tend to sprout grass weeds; newspapers for use as a weed barrier, unless bales are being placed on concrete or asphalt paving; a fertilizer source that contains nitrogen, such as urea, blood meal, or bone meal; a water source; soil or compost, if planting from seed; and a hand trowel to place transplants into the straw bales.

“First, decide on the design and placement of your straw bale garden,” Wahle says. “Bales can be arranged in a straight line, blocks, or in complex labyrinth designs. Keep in mind, though, that once you start watering bales, they can no longer be moved easily due to the added weight of the water.”

Wahle reminds would-be straw bale gardeners to plant taller plants on the north end of the straw bale garden to avoid casting shade on other plants.

“Also,” she says, “consider access. Once plants attain a certain height, stepping over a bale to access an interior bale within the design will become challenging and may result in injury to yourself or plants. Beyond that, the only limitation is your imagination and the amount of space available.”

Before moving the bales into place, several layers of newspaper should be laid on the ground under the bales to prevent growth of grass and other weeds. Bales should be positioned so that the baling twine is parallel to the ground.

Before plants can be inserted into bales, gardeners should be aware that the bales must go through a weeks-long process known as conditioning. Conditioning initiates a natural composting process within the bales. During this time, the temperature within the bales will increase significantly. Bales held over from the year before that are still in good condition will not need to go through this step. However, most bales only last for one growing season.

“To start the conditioning process, water the new bales thoroughly and keep them wet for three days. As the inside of the bales begins to decompose, they will begin to warm up. On days four, five, and six, sprinkle the top of each bale with one cup of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) or one half cup of urea (46-0-0) to speed up the process even more. Water the fertilizer in each day after each application,” Wahle says.

“On days seven, eight, and nine, cut the amount of fertilizer per bale in half,” she says. “Continue to water in the fertilizer, but take care not to water excessively to avoid runoff and leaching of the nitrogen out of the bale. On day 10, stop adding fertilizer, but keep the bales moist. On day 11 and every day thereafter, start monitoring the temperature of the bale.”

Temperature readings should be made before watering or a false reading could occur. Temperatures can be monitored with a compost thermometer or by feeling the inside of the bales. When the bales feel cooler than body temperature, it is safe to begin planting.

Plants can be transplanted just as they would be in the ground, using the same spacing.

“Using a sharp trowel, dig a pocket in the straw and place the plant inside the pocket, down to the first leaf, and let the straw fill in around it. Though a bit more challenging, transplants can also be planted in the side of the bale, but extra care should be taken not to cut the twine while planting,” Wahle cautions.

If planting seeds, gardeners should place a layer of compost mixed with soil on the top of the bale, just deep enough to hold the seed. Seeds can then be planted directly into the soil and covered with a light dusting of soil or peat moss.

Since the straw bale contains no soil, plants will require more fertilizer than if planted in a garden. Soluble synthetic fertilizer or other liquid-based fertilizers like fish emulsion are the most convenient for maintaining nutritional needs throughout the season.

Photo by and copyright, Joe Nazarian

A high-rise SE view of the dense green canopy of Meiji Jingu’s sacred forest, covering 70 hectares or 172 acres, and the adjacent Yoyogi Park.

Less than a minute’s walk from Harajuku Station, the hustle and bustle of the outside world fade away as one passes through the grand torii at the south entrance. By tradition, the torii or shrine gate marks the entrance to a Shinto Shrine or a sacred space.

Open from sunrise to sunset every day of the year, the wide gravel walking path – and traditional distance to the shrine – symbolize purification.

Setting the Scene

Since ancient times in Japan, sacred shrine forests or chinju no mori have been a venerated expression of Japan’s cultural traditions and concepts of nature. Yet the creation of the Meiji Jungu Forest was a decidedly modern construct in its time, led by Dr. Seiroku Honda and his advanced afforestation practices.

Although the site dedicated to the new shrine and forest was mostly barren fields, and the Harajuku Station area nearly treeless, Dr. Honda and his team planned for the maturation of Japan’s first “eternal” forest in four 50-year stages.

They conditioned that:

• from the very beginning the young forest’s trees should look natural and appropriate for the divine shrine;
• the dominant trees should be adapted to the climate and the soil type, able to grow naturally without maintenance, and
• be resistant to smoke pollution (caused by the steam locomotives of the Yamanote Line, one of Tokyo’s busiest rail lines today, transporting upwards of 3.5 million riders daily).

The branches gracefully arch overhead, enveloping the path with plenteous shade and dappled sunlight. The walk to the shrine is naturally, effortlessly a transforming experience.

For nearly 100 years the beautiful trees of Meiji Jingu Forest have been allowed to grow and reproduce without human intervention. Ergo, nothing is taken out of a sacred forest; nothing is brought in. If a tree falls over, it is allowed to return to the earth and rot where it is; leaves that fall on pathways are gathered and returned to the forest floor.

“This man-made forest was designed to last forever, so we’re keeping a record to see whether it’s evolving according to plan. In 2011, we surveyed the species living in the area as part of our preparations for the [shrine’s] 100th anniversary,” explains Meiji Shrine’s public relations manager Miki Fukutoku, to The Japan Times.

Fukutoku goes on to say, “The research so far says that, in terms of biodiversity, the forest contains far fewer alien species compared with its surrounding areas of central Tokyo.”

Many rare species can be glimpsed in and amongst the shrine’s forest and precincts, including  jewel beetles, northern goshawks and the beautiful, fluorescent-aqua blue winged kawasemi (カワセミ) or kingfisher, shown right.

Photo by and copyright Harum Koh.

“The forest is now about to reach the end of Honda’s protocol and experts say it will remain this condition for some time, since camphor trees can live 300 to 400 years. We won’t live for that long, though,” Fukutoku continues with a laugh, “so, the next plan will be passed on to the next generation.”

In a recent new publication – Sacred Space in the Modern City: The Fractured Pasts of Meiji Shrine, 1912-1958 – by Yoshiko Imaizumi, Meiji Shrine Research Institute, strikingly new and original perspectives come to light on how Meiji shrine is not just ‘a’ shrine, it is ‘the’ shrine of twentieth-century Japan. Which in and of itself is befitting to Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), who led Japan into the modern era during his 50 year reign.

The author uses Meiji shrine and previously untouched archival material as a lens with which to investigate the nature of the society that created, experienced and produced the sacred forest and shrine – through to the rebuilding in 1958 of several of the shrine’s buildings (destroyed by fire in 1945 in the air raids of the war,  including Honden, the main shrine building proper and inner most Sanctuary of the shrine.)

“The biggest reason why this forest has remained and flourished is that the area is protected by the revered shrine, with every one of its trees considered sacred  and venerable.

The forest has grown into a mature broad leafed forest more rapidly than Honda expected and has already begun to attain the appearance of a natural forest.

It has been steadily growing into a state of perfection.” – Kyoko Tsukada

Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the divine souls of Emperor Meiji and his consort Empress Shoken (their tombs are in Kyoto).

Emperor Meiji (1852 – 1912) was the 122nd emperor of Japan.  He ascended to the throne in 1867.

When Japan was facing unprecedented conditions such as the opening of the country to the world after its long isolation and the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Emperor Meiji took the initiative to promote friendship with other countries, and to introduce Western civilization and developed technology from overseas while preserving Japanese identity, and thus laid the foundations of modern Japan.

Empress Shoken (1850 – 1914) not only supported the Emperor behind the scenes but also devoted herself to promoting national welfare and women’s education. She was also concerned about world affairs, and she donated a fund, named after her, to the International Red Cross, which through to this day continues to be used for international welfare activities.

Meiji Jingu Gyoen (Meiji Jingu Gardens) is the only part of Naien (the Inner Precinct) that had existed long before the establishment of Meiji Jingu. In fact Emperor Meiji designed the beautiful iris garden, small paths, and fishing spot specifically for Empress Shoken in order to give her fresh energy.

Links & Additional Information:

Meiji Ji–ngu official website 明治神宮:  http://www.meijijingu.or.jp/english/

Japan for Sustainability: http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id027807.html

Green Shinto: http://www.greenshinto.com/wp/2015/12/25/meiji-shrine-new-year-2/

Affectionately called “Professor” by his neighbors, Josefino Martinez is a well-respected indigenous farmer and community organizer from the remote town of Chicahuaxtla, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He watched with patient attention as I showed him photographs of Soul Fire Farm, my family’s organic farm in the mountains of upstate New York.

I tried to convince Martinez that our farms had a lot in common. “Like you, we have marginal mountain soils and steep slopes, and we’ve worked for years to build up the fertility,” I explained.

Martinez finished his simple breakfast of fresh corn tortillas with black beans. Then he rose, donned his baseball cap and undersized school backpack, and took me out to see the land he cultivates. I quickly came to understand that my idea of “marginal soils” and “steep slopes” were naive, if not laughable. It was the height of the dry season and Martinez’s land was hard, brittle, and gray. The farm was literally etched into the mountainside, with a slope so severe that plowing with tractors or animals was impossible. Yet his storage room was full of maize, beans, dried chili, squash seeds, and fresh fruit that he’d grown right here.

When I asked how this was possible, Martinez explained that he simply farmed in the manner of his ancestors, the indigenous Triqui people.

Western agronomists would have us believe that Triqui farming practices are irrelevant today, but I thought they might be part of the solution to the nascent global food crisis. I spent the first half of 2015 in southern Mexico on a Fulbright fellowship to exchange ideas with indigenous farmers like Martinez on how get long-term high yields out of difficult farmland. I was fed up with our society’s obsession with corporate, industrial agriculture, which is flooding vulnerable communities with unhealthy food, destroying natural resources, and undermining the independent family farm.

According to a detailed report by my favorite think tank, the World Resources Institute, the first thing to know about the impending food crisis is that the human population is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. That’s a 37 percent increase from 2012, when it reached 7 billion. Even imagining massive redistribution of food resources, the world will need to produce 69 percent more calories by 2050 to feed all those people.

But agriculture already accounts for a nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions and 70 percent of freshwater use globally. So if we simply increased the scale of what we’re doing now, the ecological effects would be catastrophic. The report goes on to describe a “menu of solutions” that farmers can follow in the future to grow more food without using additional land, water, and fuel.

I had a hunch that rural farmers in Mexico were already modeling some of these practices and not being credited. While it was difficult to leave behind the daily responsibilities of tending the land, I knew that only grassroots farmer-to-farmer exchange could solve the world’s food crisis. So, with my husband and children at my side, I left behind our farm in New York and traversed the windy mountain roads of Oaxaca to trade ideas on how to feed our communities with dignity and take care of the earth at the same time.

What I learned gave me hope. Here are three items from WRI’s list of solutions that the farmers I met are already doing—and one that isn’t on their list but probably should be.

1. Farm like a forest

Not accounting for land covered by water, desert, or ice, about half of the planet is dedicated to pasture and croplands, according to WRI’s study. And the continued expansion of agricultural land is driving biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, an increase in “cropping intensity” could avert the need to clear an additional 62 million hectares for crops by 2050. That’s an area about the size of France. In other words, farmers need to start growing different plants one after another on the same land, as well as growing them closer together at the same time, a practice known as intercropping.

Oswaldo Flores, a Zapotec indigenous man from the village of Yaviche, explained how his community uses intercropping and agroforestry to grow more food without expanding into new lands.

“The forest pulls clouds from the sky so that they drop rain on the fields below,” Flores said, while showing me his shade-grown coffee farm.

The farm is a cafetal, a shady, multistory system with tall, purple-podded guajinicuiles and fruit trees forming the upper layer, coffee trees at the intermediate layer, and smaller food plants and vines (chiles, chives, chayotes) near the ground. The trees protect the plants below from high winds and cold temperatures, and their fallen leaves provide a natural compost that inhibits weed growth, adds fertility, and retains soil humidity. Guajinicuiles also fix nitrogen, making it available in organic form in the soil. This system of shade-grown coffee is almost equal to the native forest in terms of biodiversity, and maintains habitat for migratory birds.

At the edge of Flores’ cafetal, the vegetation transitioned to another complex and even more ancient intercropping system. The milpa is a Mesoamerican technology that integrates maize, beans, squash and other complementary food crops. While estimates of its age differ, it is at least 3,000 years old. The intercropped milpa system is multilayered, with maize in the upper canopy, beans in the intermediate story, and squash at the bottom. Bean plants fix atmospheric nitrogen and help reduce damage caused by the corn earworm pest (Helicoverpa sea). Squash plants inhibit weed growth with their dense network of thick, broad leaves and retain soil humidity. Natural chemicals (cucurbitacins) washed from the leaf surface act as a mild herbicide and pesticide.

Planting different crops together minimizes soil erosion because their roots form a dense network that holds soil in place. This system also tends to be very efficient, squeezing the maximum value out of every drop of water, ray of sunlight, and bit of nutrients in the soil. According to studies using the Land Equivalency Ratio—a way of measuring the productivity of agricultural land—intercropped fields often yield 40 to 50 percent more than monocropped ones.

H. Garrison Wilkes, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, calls milpa “one of the most successful human inventions ever created.”

2. Eat low on the food chain

Aside from the detrimental health effects of getting our protein from animal products, it’s also highly inefficient. Poultry is the most efficient conventional source of meat, and still only converts 11 percent of its feed energy into human food. Beef cows convert only 1 percent and are major contributors of greenhouse gases. Shifting toward plant and insect-based protein sources is part of the sustainable food solution.

“You have never tried chicatanas?” challenged Brisa Ochoa, as she served our family a salsa made of mashed ants in her hometown of Ayoquezco. During the first spring rains, the chicatana ant leaves its nest, only to be captured by eager residents who prize its sweet and tangy flavor. Mexico has 300 to 550 species of edible insects, more than any other country in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Among the most popular in Oaxaca are grasshoppers known as chapulines, served roasted and flavored with lime and chili, and maguey worms, served ground up and incorporated into a spicy salt. Insect protein takes some getting used to, but it’s healthier and more environmentally sustainable than livestock, boasting a feed conversion ratio of more than 50 percent.

While insect protein is important in rural Mexico, it mainly serves as flavoring for plant-based protein sources. Brisa served her salsa with beans on a fresh, warm corn tortilla resulting from an ancient process called nixtamalization. She used limestone and hot water to remove the hull from the maize, then ground up the kernels into the dough for tortillas.

Nixtamalization makes the protein in maize more bioavailable to the human body and increases its niacin content. When combined with beans, the nixtamalized corn offers a complete protein.

Brisa’s family also grows amaranth, a native Mesoamerican grain that has been cultivated in Mexico for at least 6,000 years. Nearly eradicated by the conquering Spaniards who feared its role in traditional religion, amaranth is making a comeback in Brisa’s town, thanks to her family’s breeding and sharing its seeds. Up until this trip to Mexico, I had only experienced amaranth as a “weed” invading my neat beds of vegetables and didn’t realize that its seeds are 13 to 15 percent protein, among the highest for any grain. Amaranth is also high in fiber, calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, folate, and vitamins A and C. Like beans, amaranth can be combined with maize to form a complete protein.

Brisa’s family does eat chicken, beef, and pork, but usually only on special occasions. Plant and insect protein are the basis of their healthful, affordable, and sustainable diet.

3. Restore health to damaged land

Cropland can expand at low environmental cost if the encroached lands do not have much natural potential to store carbon or support biodiversity. The arid Mixteca region of Oaxaca meets these criteria and has been termed an “ecological disaster zone” by the World Bank. Soil erosion and depletion has damaged about one million acres of cropland, and corn productivity rates have plummeted to the lowest in Mexico.

Jesús León Santos, sustainable agriculture coordinator at CEDICAM, an indigenous farming organization in the Mixteca, blames Green Revolution farming technology for the environmental destruction. The Green Revolution of the 1960s was an U.S.-led international effort to push adoption of farm mechanization, hybrid seeds, and chemical fertilizers in order to increase yields.

León Santos is working to revive and enhance indigenous farming wisdom in order to restore the health of the soil and the productivity of the land.

The first step for León Santos and his farming community was to build trenches, stone walls, and terraces to stop the erosion of the remaining soils and to slow water runoff so aquifers can recharge. He stabilized these barriers with tenacious local vegetation, such as the sweet-smelling vetiver grass, which withstands drought, flooding, and mudslides.

Once stabilized, the barren hillsides were reforested with native tree species, like nitrogen-fixing alders (Alnus acumilata) and pines (Pinus oaxacana). The CEDICAM community saves its own native crop seed, using an in-the-field selection process that has persisted regionally since the pre-Columbian era. They preserve and exchange the best seeds of maize, beans, squash, chile, tomatillo, chayote, squash, sunflower, and prickly pear, as well as local specialties like cempoalxochitl, quintoniles, and huauzontle.

The farmers further improve the soil by planting and tilling in “cover crops,” which add nutrients and organic matter. Some native varieties are especially good for this, like the “frijol nescafe,” ( Mucuna deeringiana) a nitrogen-fixing bean that thrives in dry soil. Finally, farmers add compost and plant debris so that the land is finally ready to receive these carefully maintained crop seeds.

The use of erosion control barriers, intercropping, and seed saving are part of the knowledge León Santos inherited from his Zapotec ancestors. And it’s working. León Santos says he has seen yields increase fourfold after incorporating these ancient and modern sustainable growing techniques. The newly established vegetation sequesters atmospheric carbon and attracts biodiversity.

The art of transforming lands of low ecological productivity into thriving foodscapes is not unique to the Mixteca. León Santos reminded me that the Aztec Empire sustained itself on chinampas, intricate gardens built of vegetation and river muck, essentially artificial islands constructed in shallow lakes. Chinampas are widely considered the most productive form of agriculture ever invented, and are so fertile that they can yield four to seven harvests per year. Indigenous Mexicans have long-standing successes in positive ecological transformation.

4. Cultivate reverence for the planet

One essential element missing from the World Resource Institute’s otherwise thorough and brilliant “menu of solutions” for the global food crisis was the ethical perspective that co-evolved with best practices in environmental management. This ethic, known as convivencia, or “living together” with both our human and natural communities, is best summarized by Kiado Cruz, a Zapotec farmer from the Oaxacan town of Yagavila:

The ground beneath our feet is our Mother Nature, who has carried us and sustains us. As we work her, we do not profane her, rather we carry out our task as farmers in the context of the sacred. It is corn through which Mother Nature nourishes us. It is flesh of our flesh, because we are people of corn. So we have to collect it in a manner that shows the respect we owe both our soil and our brother corn.

It is with a similar sense of belonging and reverence that I placed corn seeds into our home soil upon return, establishing Soul Fire Farm’s first milpa, an ancient and intricate tangle of complementary sister crops bringing us one small step closer to a sustainable food future.

Leah Penniman wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Leah is a farmer and educator based in the Albany, N.Y., area.

This article is shared under a creative commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Have you ever admired the vibrant colors of spring flowers and wondered how to create this beauty in your own landscape?

“The time to plant for spring bloomers is now,” said University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Jennifer Nelson. “Every spring at least one person asks me where they can purchase spring flowers for planting, such as tulips, hyacinths, or daffodils,” Nelson said. “When I explain that they are typically purchased and planted in the fall, their exuberance quickly changes to disappointment as they exclaim, ‘Well, I’ll never remember to do that!’ “This is your friendly reminder that fall is the proper time to plant spring bulbs,” she said.

Nelson offers these tips for planting spring flowering bulbs:

• Plant in well-drained soil. Clay soils commonly found in Illinois gardens often do not drain well. Excess water in the soil surrounding bulbs promotes rot and will eventually kill the bulbs.

• Improve drainage in heavy clay soil with organic materials such as compost or shredded leaves to encourage healthy bulb growth. Amending soils addresses issues other than poor drainage as unimproved clay soils can compact and restrict bulb and root growth, resulting in bulbs that slowly decline rather than multiply.

• Consider the actual physical location. Plant a few bulbs near spaces you see every day. Part of the joy of spring bulbs is seeing those first green signs of spring emerge from the cold ground.

• Daffodils are a must for the Illinois garden not just because of the wide variety of shapes, sizes, and color combinations available, but because they are poisonous. This means that nothing will eat them. Also daffodils multiply and naturalize beautifully, without having to be divided often.

• Tulips are beautiful choices for the spring garden, but they are also a tasty treat for local wildlife, such as rabbits, squirrels, and deer. In heavy clay soils, tulips tend to be relatively short-lived. After about three or four years, it is not uncommon for tulips to begin to decline, first failing to bloom and eventually dying off.

• Consider planting some of the lesser known spring bulbs that are attractive in their own right. Galanthus, or snowdrops, are one of the earliest-blooming spring bulbs, often blooming with snow still on the ground. Scilla siberica, or Siberian squill, has small blue flowers and is only 6 inches tall, but packs a big punch when planted en masse. Iris histroides, I. reticulate, and I. danfordiae are some other early bloomers to consider for their delicate display.

• When planting bulbs, a good rule of thumb is to plant bulbs two to three times as deep as they are tall. Measure the depth of planting from the bottom of the bulb. Plant bulbs right side up—the “right side” is generally more pointed than the root end. If this distinction is not obvious on a given bulb, plant the bulb sideways and Mother Nature will sort it out.

• When purchasing bulbs, choose unblemished, firm bulbs with little or no new growth. Keep in mind that for a given species, larger bulbs will produce larger or more flowers than smaller bulbs. Bargain bulbs are no bargain if they are small for their species. They will not flower as well if they do flower at all. This is one situation where you get what you pay for.

“Before the winter winds blow, take some time to plant a few spring bulbs, Nelson said.

To those who work all day, gardens are a calming refuge when returning home. For most, the primary time to enjoy your efforts is in the evening. A University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator said gardeners should plan and plant for this time of day.

“You have worked all day and now you can sit, relax, and enjoy an evening garden.”

Martha Smith recommends choosing a garden site that is easily viewed from a comfortable spot such as a favorite chair on the deck or a rocker on a porch. “You have worked all day and now you can sit, relax, and enjoy an evening garden,” she said. “Also, select plants that will give the best show from 6 p.m. until nightfall and beyond.”

Smith added that colors are important for an evening garden. “Dark, cool colors such as purple and deep blue will be lost at dusk. Light colors take on a luminescent quality in the evening,” she said. “White, cream, or yellow will pop out. Pinks and blues will work, but place them adjacent to lighter colors or against white fencing or a light-colored wall to accent the contrast.”

Perennials will come in and out of bloom according to the season. Smith recommends choosing spring, summer, and fall bloomers to ensure a continuous flow of color.

For white flowers, consider tall garden phlox, oriental lily, Shasta daisy ‘Becky’, spring anemone, baby’s breath (Gypsophila sp.), Euphorbia corollata, Boltonia asteroides, tulip, daffodil, white bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’.), or gas plant (Dictamnus albus). Soft yellows or creams can be found in ‘Moonbeam’ Coreopsis, ‘Crème Brulee’ Coreopsis, daylily (Hemerocallis sp.), hollyhock (Alcea sp.), fall mums, or columbine (Aquilegia sp.). “There are so many choices,” Smith said.

Coreopis ‘Moonbeam’ (Coreopsis verticillata)

Annuals will bloom all season and fill the in-between times when perennials are not at their peak. Smith said alyssum, impatiens, petunias, geraniums, verbena, dusty miller, cosmos, or spider plant all offer light colors that will shine in the low evening light.

“Don’t forget foliage color. Stay away from the burgundy foliage as well as plain dark green,” Smith noted. “Introduce silver foliage with Artemesia ‘Silvermound’, Lambs Ear (Stachys byzantine), or Yarrow (Achillea sp.). Yellow foliage will really shine with plants such as ‘Solar Flare’ or ‘Sun Power’ Hosta , Golden barberry, Veronica repens ‘Sunshine’, Caryopteris ‘Worcester Gold’, or ‘Golden Sun’ coleus.

Artemesia ‘Silver Mound’

“Chartreuse foliage is popular. Look for more introductions boasting this lime color such as ‘Marguerita’ sweet potato vine. Foliage with variegations of white or gold also work well in the evening garden,” she added.

One last feature to think about for an evening garden is fragrance.  “Spring-blooming hyacinth, night-blooming stock, sweet pea, carnation, peony, oriental lilies, or nicotiana all will add a delicate scent to your garden,” Smith explained. “Also add fragrant blooming bushes such a Viburnum carlesii, Tree peony, or lilac. Herbs are also great for fragrance.”

Creeping thyme underfoot or a rosemary plant within reach to pinch for a fresh jolt of fragrance are also great additions to the evening garden, Smith added.  “Moon vine (Ipomoea alba) has large white flowers that open in the evening and glow. Their fragrance attracts night pollinators, which is added entertainment in an evening garden,” she said.

Moon Flower (Ipomoea alba)

A brief history of biophilic design patterns in interior spaces

“Nature in the Space” in biophilic terms means any design interventions that forge a direct, physical and ephemeral presence of nature in a space or place. One of the most significant “Nature in the Space” design patterns is Visual Connection with Nature (outlined in the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, published by Terrapin Bright Green in 2014). Some of the design strategies included in this pattern are potted plants, flowerbeds, courtyard gardens, green walls and green roofs. Plants in ancient times were first used for nutritional and medicinal purposes; the first known decorative use of plants was about 3,000 years ago by Egyptians. Not much is known about decorative use until the Victorian age when the English began to propagate plants in greenhouses. By the mid 1800s, indoor gardening had become a popular hobby in the United States and corporate greenery “Interiorscape” programs were first introduced in the late 1950s. Biophilia is the driving factor behind promoting views of nature indoors, whether it is a potted plant in an office, or a lobby atrium complete with water and fish. Until the last 15 years there was very little scientific evidence, some people simply intuited the need for nature in the space where we work and live.

Living Wall by Plant Solutions 

Beginnings

Everett Conklin was one of the early pioneers that brought plants into commercial interiors. Conklin and his New Jersey company, Everett Conklin and Company, installed their first large scale interior landscape in New York City’s Four Seasons Restaurant in the early 1960s. A little later the Ford Foundation, CBS Building, and Rockefeller Center became corporate clients. These early corporate installations were the beginning of the interior plantscaping industry that we know today.

Before there was any notable research science, Conklin stated that there is a “primal association” with plants and flowers, that they aren’t luxuries but requirements of our biological heritage, that we need them in order to be happy. In 1972 Conklin published “Man and plants-a primal association” in American Nurseryman Magazine, where he posited his theory that man was genetically programmed to be near and around green, growing plants. During the same period, Conklin presented to the American Society of Horticultural Science and stated that the man-flora link was innate.

Living Wall by Plant Solutions

Evolution of Plants Indoors

With the popularization of planting indoors in the 60s and 70s, architects, designers, and builders began incorporating well-lit atriums and lobbies into their designs. The indoor plant industry flourished until energy became more costly and a greater concern for commercial building owners. Due to the energy crisis, the late 1970s and 80s saw the design and construction of many tightly sealed buildings with very little day lighting or provisional plant lighting. The result was less plants and more sick buildings due to trapped VOCs.

One of the greatest challenges to maintaining indoor plant health is lighting. The absence of adequate lighting creates a slow death for any healthy plant. Conklin believed the secret to successful indoor plant care was acclimating plants to lower light levels prior to installation. This is a process which reduces the light level that a plant is grown under over a period of time, typically 12 weeks to 6 months. This practice created by Conklin is still used by quality plant growers today.

Moss Wall Panels by Plant Solutions

Along Comes Wolverton

Dr. Bill Wolverton had a long career as a research scientist at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. When over 100 airborne chemicals contaminated Sky Lab 3, Wolverton was asked to look for common ways to filter contaminants. He chose tropical plants as a potential strategy to solve the air quality problem. Wolverton studied the extent to which plants filter air by growing them in chambers filled with various VOCs while testing the air quality over time gradients. In his experiments, he was able to observe the effectiveness of specific plants at chemical removal. Wolverton’s studies found that the plants purified the air in the chambers. In addition, Wolverton also found that the plants were able to filter air in less time when contaminants were re-injected into the chambers, and that soil microbes also remove pollutants through breakdown. Wolverton’s first published research was in 1984, and in 1989 NASA published his report on interior landscape plants and indoor air pollutant abatement. Although there has been some debate on the quantity and scale on how to make plants an effective indoor bio-filter, Wolverton’s research set a course for future scientific research.

Living Wall by Plant Solutions

Nature in the Space Research Continues

Since 1984 there have been many additional technical papers and publications citing the effects of exposure to nature, including works by Tove Fleld, Virginia Lohr, and the landmark study by Roger Ulrich on the health benefits of nature views in hospitals. Validating our intuition with scientific evidence continues to support what many of us instinctively know: nature in the space can recharge us, make us more productive and lead to greater happiness. Since we are a society motivated by economics, the costs and return on investment of incorporating nature in the built environment is an important focus. The publication The Economics of Biophilia (Terrapin Bright Green, 2012) challenges our assumptions about cost and value. In a review of a series of studies, including one that deduced that 10% of employee absences could be attributed to architecture that had no connection with nature, the paper concludes that we can no longer ignore the financial benefits of including living nature and other biophilic elements in the built environment.

Future Cities

Bringing together wellness and economic studies of nature in the space is having a profound effect on how we create our home and working environments. As our cities become more populated, the need to create indoor nature connections will become an imperative in everything we design. The health and wellness of our collective future depend on it.

 Before

 After ~ Living Wall by Plant Solutions

Detail

All photography © Plant Solutions

Joe Zazzera, an Interior Landscape and Living Wall designer, is the founding principal of Plant Solutions. He is President of Green Plants For Green Buildings, a 501c3 whose mission is to communicate the benefits of nature in the built environment. A Biomimicry Specialist, he is interested in the crossovers between biophilia, biomimicry and the functional integration of nature in the built environment.

Follow these simple steps to create a pollinator-friendly landscape around your home or workplace

Use a wide variety of plants that bloom from early spring into late fall

Help pollinators find and use them by planting in clumps, rather than single plants. Include plants native to your region. Natives are adapted to your local climate, soil and native pollinators. Do not forget that night-blooming flowers will support moths and bats.

Baby blue eyes (nemophila menziesii) Photo: Teresa Prendusi, USDA

Avoid modern hybrid flowers, especially those with “doubled” flowers

Often plant breeders have unwittingly left the pollen, nectar, and fragrance out of these blossoms while creating the “perfect” blooms for us.

Mountain laurel (kalmia latifolia) Photo: Mark Pistrang, USDA

Eliminate pesticides whenever possible

If you must use a pesticide, use the least-toxic material possible. Read labels carefully before purchasing, as many pesticides are especially dangerous for bees. Use the product properly. Spray at night when bees and other pollinators are not active.

Golden columbine (aquilegia chrysantha) Photo: Steve Olson, USDA

Include larval host plants in your landscape

If you want colorful butterflies, grow plants for their caterpillars. They WILL eat them, so place them where unsightly leaf damage can be tolerated. Accept that some host plants are less than ornamental if not outright weeds. A butterfly guide will help you determine the plants you need to include. Plant a butterfly garden!

Knowlton’s miniature cactus (pediocactus knowltoni) Robert Sivinski, USDA

Create a damp salt lick for butterflies and bees

Use a dripping hose, drip irrigation line, or place your bird bath on bare soil to create a damp area. Mix a small bit of table salt (sea salt is better!) or wood ashes into the mud.

Bunchberry (cornus canadensis) Photo: Craig Odegar, USDA

Spare that limb!

By leaving dead trees, or at least an occasional dead limb, you provide essential nesting sites for native bees. Make sure these are not a safety hazard for people walking below. You can also build a bee condo by drilling holes of varying diameter about 3 to 5 inches deep in a piece of scrap lumber mounted to a post or under eaves.

Greater Yellow Ladyslipper orchid (cypripedium parviflorum) Photo: Steve Olson, USDA

You can add to nectar resources by providing a hummingbird feeder

To make artificial nectar, use four parts water to one part table sugar. Never use artificial sweeteners, honey, or fruit juices. Place something red on the feeder. Clean your feeder with hot soapy water at least twice a week to keep it free of mold.

Dwarf iris (iris cristata) Photo: Mark Pistrang, USDA

Butterflies need resources other than nectar

They are attracted to unsavory foodstuffs, such as moist animal droppings, urine and rotting fruits. Try putting out slices of overripe bananas, oranges and other fruits, or a sponge in a dish of lightly salted water to see which butterflies come to investigate. Sea salt provides a broader range of micronutrients than regular table salt.

Flame azalea (rhododendron calendulaceum) Photo: Mark Pistrang, USDA

Learn more about pollinators

Get some guidebooks and learn to recognize the pollinators in your neighborhood. Experiment with a pair of close-focusing binoculars for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

Oneflower Helianthella (helianthella uniflora) Photo: Teresa Prendusi, USDA

For More Information from the USDA

• Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants (Eastern United States) (PDF, 3.5 MB) – developed and published by the USDA Forest Service providing a guide to providing habitats for pollinators in the eastern United States.
• Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants (PDF, 3.2 MB) – developed and published by the Lolo National Forest, Missoula, Montana, providing a guide to providing habitats for pollinators primarily in the western United States.
• Gardening for Native Bees in Utah and Beyond (PDF, 3,9 MB) – a Utah Pests Fact Sheet published in January 2013 by Utah State University Extension and Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Laboratory. This fact sheet provides guidance for plant selection to garden for pollinators, including some 200 garden plant genera nationwide and a table of their flowering phenologies (in northern Utah).
• Plants for Pollinators in the Inland Northwest (PDF, 3.1 MB) – a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Technical Note, TN Plant Materials No. 2B, October 2011. This technical note provides guidance for the design and implementation of conservation plantings to enhance habitat for pollinators including bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. Plant species included in this document are adapted to the Inland Northwest, which encompasses northern Idaho, northeastern Oregon and eastern Washington.

Gardening is a beloved hobby for millions of people across the country. Whether motivated by healthy outdoor exercise, the satisfaction of eating delicious home-grown fruits and veggies, or the artistic pleasure of a beautiful flower arrangement, gardeners across the country have one thing in common: they are seeing and feeling the effects of climate change. Whether that means more time spent on weeding, pest control, and watering; choosing different plants as conditions change; or saying goodbye to garden visitors such as birds and butterflies, gardens are just one of the ways global warming is affecting the things we love to do.

“Season Creep” and its Impacts

As the planet warms, signs of spring are arriving sooner in much of the U.S., while winters are becoming shorter and milder.  This phenomenon is informally known as “season creep” in that the onset of spring is creeping earlier. The study of the timing of spring events is called phenology.

Season creep manifests in various ways. For example, flowers bloom earlier, including a week earlier on average for Washington’s famous cherry blossoms. Hardwood forests hold their green leaves 10 days longer. Spring snowmelts have shifted so that peak melt flow now arrives one to four weeks earlier. Growing seasons have lengthened by 10-20 days, and bird species are leaving earlier for their migrations.

Although much research is still underway, the signs point to a causal relationship between carbon dioxide, global warming, and the manifestations of season creep. In one study, natural variability explained only one-third the rate of “creep” in the arrival of spring. Likewise, decadal oscillations, or natural cycles of change, could not fully account for early streamflow, and researchers found leaf retention in hardwood forests was “consistent with other studies documenting measurable climate change effects.”

A shorter winter may sound great to those who eagerly await gardening season, but in many ways these changes negatively affect gardeners. Here’s how:

Frost vulnerability: High spring temperatures can create earlier flowering schedules. This leaves blooms at risk of a freeze. Although it sounds counter-intuitive given the “global warming” we’re experiencing, cold snaps are still projected to happen even during warmer-than-average springs. This is of greatest concern to commercial fruit farmers, who lose their crop if a frost destroys the flowers. Yet hobbyists who grow fruit and flowers will also be affected. For example, mountain-dwelling wildflowers are experiencing frequent frost damage due to early blooming.

Species mismatch: Research shows that species differ in their ability to adjust lifecycles to changes linked to global warming. As an example, timing is crucial for successful plant-pollintator interactions—plants need to be in flower at the same time as their pollinators—and changes in temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables may lead flowering times to be out of sync with pollinator activity. Mismatches can also occur between predators and their prey, which may affect gardeners interested in attracting birds to their gardens. For example, the pied flycatcher now migrates at the wrong time relative to the availability of its insect prey, and as a result has experienced population declines of 90 percent.

Pests and invasives: Season creep provides favorable conditions to many pests and invasive species. In the western U.S., harsh winters normally cull the bark beetle population, but recent mild winters have allowed their population to skyrocket. Gypsy moths, tent caterpillars, and hemlock woolly adelgid are also expected to expand their ranges thanks to the changing seasons. Invasive plant species are by no means uniform in their response to climate change, but research indicates that in many cases they will be able to adapt more effectively to season creep than native species. This was the case at Thoreau’s Walden Pond, where invasive species slowly drove out native plants as the climate shifted.

Hardiness zones: In 1990, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published the Plant Hardiness Zones, a map that divides the country into regions with different climatic conditions. This map aids gardeners in determining which plants will thrive in which regions. However, as conditions warmed and the climate changed, the real conditions in the zones began to differ with what was shown on the map. In 2012, the USDA revised the zones, changing the boundaries and moving most of them northward. For example, Ohio used to be mostly within Zone 5, but now it is almost entirely within the warmer Zone 6. As such, gardeners in these areas may have had to reconsider their planting choices.

Click on the map to go to the interactive version at the USDA.

Extreme Weather and Gardening

Gardeners are highly attuned to the weather in order to maintain the best care and well-being for their gardens. What a typical season looks like, however, is changing. Climate change can make certain types of extreme weather more intense or frequent, thus creating new challenges for gardeners.

Heavy Downpours: Extreme rainfall events have been linked to human-caused global warming. One study found that intensity of extreme precipitation events has increased 6-8 percent for each degree increase in global average temperature. Although it doesn’t sound threatening, that can be the difference between a soggy day and one that floods a town’s sewer system. Studies using climate models also show extreme precipitation will become more common in a warming world. Flooding and extreme rain can damage gardens by eroding landscaping, physically damaging to plants, and causing root rot in overly wet soil.

Droughts: Droughts are a complicated climate impact, in that they do not always have a single cause. Lack of rainfall, early snowmelt, high temperatures, and human overdevelopment and overuse of water can all cause drought. That said, climate change is connected to all of these factors except human overuse, and is predicted to continue to exacerbate them in the future. For gardeners, droughts mean more time and money spent on watering, and even bans on watering in some cases of extreme drought.

It may seem counter-intuitive that both droughts and downpours are increasing, but these are not mutually exclusive. Overall variability in the climate has increased, which means that we are seeing more “feast or famine” swings rather than constant conditions. As such, some regions are experiencing a simple rise in drought or rainfall, while others are experiencing a rise in both through increased variability.

Regional Impacts

In addition to widely generalized effects across the country, gardeners are experiencing more localized climate change impacts from region to region. This list — though by no means exhaustive — shows some site-specific impacts. Many examples focus on agricultural crops and impacts but are still applicable to gardeners and their plants.

Northeast: When it comes to phenological changes, the northeastern United States is particularly vulnerable.

• In the Washington, D.C. area, 89 flowering species have advanced their flowering by an average of 4.5 days in the past 30 years, with some flowering as much as 46 days earlier than usual. This leaves them vulnerable to frost damage.
• Woody northeastern perennials such as apple, grape, lilac, and honeysuckle have advanced their spring phenology from two to eight days since 1965.
• Hemlock wooly adelgid, forest tent caterpillar, beech bark disease, and oriental bittersweet are all “problematic” species that are projected to increase in the forests of the northeastern U.S.
• The country’s northernmost states are expected to experience the most dramatic change in phenology as climate change continues, with an increase of 38 days by 2100 in Maine and New York, compared to 10 days in the southernmost states.

Southeast: In the Southeast, many trees and bushes require a chilling period for normal spring growth. Chilling periods are the amount of time the temperature falls below freezing, with different plants requiring different lengths of chilling to trigger growth.

• Crops including almonds, apples, blueberries, grapes, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries, strawberries and walnuts require chilling periods, and are likely to be affected by the changing climate. Marketable yields of these crops are “highly sensitive to minor environmental stresses related to temperatures outside the optimal range.”

Midwest: The Midwest, home to much of the nation’s agriculture, is an important region to examine how climate change is changing phenological patterns.

• A 61-year study at one site in Wisconsin found an advance of more than seven days in spring phenology of many different species, including flowers and birds.
• Many crops respond to the first warmth of the season, causing a premature bud break followed by frost damage. This happened both in 2002 and 2012 to Michigan’s tart cherry crop, a $60 million industry annually.
• Many of the tree species iconic to the region are projected to move northward, including oaks and pines. Others, such as paper birch, quaking aspen, balsam fir, and white spruce are projected to decline as their suitable habitat decreases.
• Michigan and Wisconsin are also expected to experience the onset of spring 38 days earlier by 2100.

Rocky Mountains: Due to the variety of climactic conditions along its vertical slopes, climate change affects the Rocky Mountain region in several ways.

• The earlier arrival of warmth has led to increasing mid-June frost kills in sensitive mountain-dwelling wildflower species.
• Because a warmer winter allows them to survive and thrive, the spruce and mountain pine beetles have both been aided by warming temperatures — even breeding twice annually instead of only once.
• In a phenomenon known as the “escalator effect,” mountain species are moving to higher elevations in order to maintain a constant temperature. Although this has not been studied in the Rockies specifically, it has been documented around the world and is likely to affect the Rockies as well.
• The Rockies and the surrounding area, including Colorado, California and parts of the Southwest, rely heavily on the gradual melting of winter snows to provide water throughout the hot, dry summer. Winter snows are now melting earlier, leading in some cases to summer water shortages. This problem is projected to increase as global warming intensifies.

Southwest: The Southwest’s defining feature is its arid landscape. Changes in water availability will be one of the biggest impacts of climate change in the region.

• A study over the course of 2002-2003 found widespread vegetation die-off in Southwestern woodlands in response to a combination of drought and bark beetle infestations. Researchers reported that climate change exacerbated the die-off and project that such events will get worse.
• In California, climate change will exacerbate insect pests such as the spruce budworm and Argentine ant.
• More than 60 percent of the climate-related trends in the Southwest since 1950 have been found to be human-induced in that they stem from climate change caused by loading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. These include higher temperatures, declining snowpack, and decreased river flows, all of which contribute to reduced water availability.
• Models predict that the Sonoran Desert will move northward, changing the vegetation mix of the area. The range of the Joshua tree is projected to shift as well.

Great Plains: The Great Plains represents a flat landscape that derives most of its water from underground aquifers. Climate change will affect water availability and species mix.

• In Texas, the range of some rodent pests is expected to increase with climate change.
• The invasive red imported fire ant’s suitable habitat in Oklahoma will increase under projected climate change.
• Gypsy moth caterpillars are projected to expand in Utah.
• In the Southern Plains, groundwater depletion is accelerating. Regional changes in the amount and timing of precipitation, as well as increases to the evaporation rate due to higher temperatures, are projected to cause groundwater resources to be depleted even faster.

Northwest: Lush forests are one of the most recognizable features of the Northwest, but they face considerable stresses as climate change continues.

• At warmer temperatures expand the range of pine beetles, high temperatures also stress trees and make them more vulnerable to the beetles.
• Lower availability of summer water will likely cause declining northwestern populations of Douglas firs.
• Measurements in Lake Washington, WA showed a 19-day advance in timing of spring phytoplankton blooms.