<![CDATA[ecological gardening]]> Follow ecological gardening, filter it, and define how you want to receive the news (via Email, RSS, Telegram, WhatsApp etc.) https://follow.it/ecological-gardening Fri, 20 Sep 2024 10:57:39 +0200 <![CDATA[PLEASE UPDATE THE RSS FEED]]> https://follow.it/ <![CDATA[

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]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0200 https://follow.it/ <![CDATA[Achieving 30x30: Percentages Matter, We’re All in This Together, and What You Do to Help Counts Big-time]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJL2J4UADs6dVw3HFUzDTIP <![CDATA[Achieving 30x30: Percentages Matter, We’re All in This Together, and What You Do to Help Counts Big-time Green space in the Chicago region (credit: Chicago Wilderness Alliance)Did you know that back in December, one of the most important planetary environmental agreements in history got approved in Montreal? This would be the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), approved by the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which clearly states the goal]]> Sat, 11 Mar 2023 03:46:35 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJL2J4UADs6dVw3HFUzDTIP <![CDATA[We All Should Vote Yes for the Forest Preserves of Cook County]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FIpI4MGpeA_MeGrEXdXG_66 <![CDATA[We All Should Vote Yes for the Forest Preserves of Cook County For Cook County residents, here's an incredibly easy way to help fight climate change and support biodiversity. A slightly different version was published in the  Oak Park Wednesday Journal on October 18, 2022.At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of farsighted people had the novel idea to create the Cook County Forest Preserves system, the first of its kind in the country. It was a]]> Wed, 19 Oct 2022 17:38:46 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FIpI4MGpeA_MeGrEXdXG_66 <![CDATA[Two Bur Oaks and a Crawdad]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKioQB2fTrR7-4DA87rvhPr <![CDATA[Two Bur Oaks and a Crawdad A group of swamp white oaksHealthy soil is important, but for whom? In the Garden The young bur oak would not be kept down. Yet again it revealed itself among the standing dead stalks of a large patch of purple bee balm, a good three feet tall and leafing out. In spring, a bur oak’s leaves look like sharp-edged, glossy cutouts. They are not green, but shade delicately among soft corals, tans and]]> Wed, 15 Jun 2022 04:51:29 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKioQB2fTrR7-4DA87rvhPr <![CDATA[Rules of Thumb, 30x30, and the Laws of Nature]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJlD1iblGjD-BKeetMRuZbW <![CDATA[Rules of Thumb, 30x30, and the Laws of Nature Spring Landscape (Rain), A. KrehbielMy mother had a commonplace book in which she recorded, by hand, in beautiful cursive, proverbs, sayings, and quotes that struck her as interesting, thought provoking, or wise. I also love sayings, and quotes, and mantras, but mostly I’ve collected rules of thumb, those short pithy statements that condense ways of dealing with life on earth in the same way that]]> Thu, 28 Apr 2022 01:38:44 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJlD1iblGjD-BKeetMRuZbW <![CDATA[Living with Wild Native Shrubs in the Garden]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJoTh5rh-5dVZu9CxXrVx4c <![CDATA[Living with Wild Native Shrubs in the Garden Black chokeberry in early springHere in the Chicago region, warmish days in March are perfect for attending to pruning tasks, something conducive to living happily with native shrubs in the garden. As I was working outside last week, it occurred to me that some people might like to know a little more about their care. I love native shrubs. I look for and encourage their growth in National Grove,]]> Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:44:48 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJoTh5rh-5dVZu9CxXrVx4c <![CDATA[January Notes: Making Peace with Our Ancestors]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FLUibnLx7wcJXKSkciKEY1s <![CDATA[January Notes: Making Peace with Our Ancestors The Des Plaines River atNational Grove PreserveLast May, the Center for Humans and Nature, headquartered in Chicago, published a remarkable, environmentally-focused book, “What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be” (U. of Chicago Press, 2021). This compendium of poems, essays and dialogues contains the voices of a range of writers and speakers from widely disparate cultures, traditions and]]> Fri, 28 Jan 2022 02:50:25 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FLUibnLx7wcJXKSkciKEY1s <![CDATA[Leave the Leaves, Turn Out the Lights]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKAF4zOwJOZTjHgrmwRGUK6 <![CDATA[Leave the Leaves, Turn Out the Lights Most people are aware of the global biodiversity crisis, the shocking declines of insects, birds, and other animals, yet many don’t connect it with life in our comfortable suburbs. Because everything is connected, what we do at home is more important than you might think. Anyone with a house and yard can take two actions that will immediately increase biodiversity by helping the creatures that]]> Wed, 17 Nov 2021 20:26:48 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKAF4zOwJOZTjHgrmwRGUK6 <![CDATA[Dear Mr. Paulson, Re Your Recent NY Times Op-Ed about Mass Extinction]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJ_zdB5CCi4EyuZukmJ4mr4 <![CDATA[Dear Mr. Paulson, Re Your Recent NY Times Op-Ed about Mass Extinction 10/4/21 Dear Mr. Paulson, You arguably are one of the most powerful, famous, and networked men in the world, with many important accomplishments. I am the completely ordinary, middle class, volunteer steward of 53 acres of publicly owned, remnant floodplain woodland situated on the banks of the Des Plaines River.Based on your eponymously named Institute’s website, you apparently spend much of]]> Thu, 07 Oct 2021 20:25:58 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJ_zdB5CCi4EyuZukmJ4mr4 <![CDATA[Deer Outside the Garden: A Podcast]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJ_zdB5CCi4E--bbeigX9oC <![CDATA[Deer Outside the Garden: A Podcast Thomas Christopher Recently I revisited Thomas Christopher at Growing Greener to talk about how white-tailed deer drive ecosystem change. You can listen to our conversation here.]]> Thu, 07 Oct 2021 20:20:52 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FJ_zdB5CCi4E--bbeigX9oC <![CDATA[How Do White-Tailed Deer Change Ecosystems, Anyway?]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FIgoeCLoW3Lp-m6srrLMsqK <![CDATA[How Do White-Tailed Deer Change Ecosystems, Anyway? Credit: Robert Woeger, UnsplashSome facts about deer An adult white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, that might weigh between 100 and 150 pounds, must eat about 8-12 pounds of fresh forage every day. They eat a wide range of plants, from flowers to shrubs, to tree saplings, and in oak woodlands, acorns. All of these plants share the characteristic of a certain softness: deer lack upper front]]> Fri, 10 Sep 2021 01:35:41 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FIgoeCLoW3Lp-m6srrLMsqK <![CDATA[New Email Subscription Service]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FImIsgvRuGkYETXPGaG87AR <![CDATA[New Email Subscription Service Credit: ENGGtalksEcological Gardening has switched from Feedburner to follow.it. This is because Google has decided to let the email subscription portion of Feedburner lapse in July. Fortunately, I was able to make the switch in timely fashion and import my subscribers, who will get my posts with no interruptions. Follow.it offers subscribers a choice of delivery options besides straight email,]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2021 19:05:18 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FImIsgvRuGkYETXPGaG87AR <![CDATA[Why Wolf Road Prairie Matters]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyvdczOo_8W9B <![CDATA[Why Wolf Road Prairie Matters Wolf Road Prairie in Late Summer (Credit Openlands)There is a struggle going on over a small piece of land in Cook County, Illinois that is emblematic of the national debate about how to manage the wild, open land with which our country is blessed. On one side are those who stand to profit from building on land considered useless unless it is remade for exclusively human purposes. On the other]]> Fri, 25 Jun 2021 16:03:24 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyvdczOo_8W9B <![CDATA[Yes, White-Tailed Deer Populations Should Be Managed]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyu4sICfMfkNm <![CDATA[Yes, White-Tailed Deer Populations Should Be Managed Gray wolf, apex predator/National Park ServiceAs a non-hunting, vegetarian nature-lover I am in favor of deer. My heart lifts when I see a doe and fawn browsing in the green dappled light of early summer in Thatcher Woods. I marvel at their ability to move quickly through the trees and to seemingly appear and disappear at will. Yet I believe that deer herds should be managed so that their]]> Tue, 11 May 2021 19:21:12 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyu4sICfMfkNm <![CDATA[Native Gardens through the Seasons: A Virtual Walk]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyqbel3Iu4GjH <![CDATA[Native Gardens through the Seasons: A Virtual Walk In-person garden walks, as wonderful as they can be, only offer a "snapshot" of a garden on one day in a particular season, usually summer.  Missing are the daily and weekly changes that make up so much of a native plant garden's place-specific beauty.The annual West Cook Wild Ones/Interfaith Green Network garden walk has traditionally been held in early August. When the pandemic forced]]> Thu, 11 Feb 2021 23:24:16 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyqbel3Iu4GjH <![CDATA[The Beauty of Thoughtful Neglect: Spring Garden Care in the Ecological Garden]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyvnNuMIJyU22 <![CDATA[The Beauty of Thoughtful Neglect: Spring Garden Care in the Ecological Garden Native wild ginger emerges in AprilWhy leaves should stay where they are and “Chop and drop” tidying Back in March, shortly after the Covid-19 shutdown began in Illinois,  I was on a zoom meeting with some other native plant gardeners when we got on the subject of spring clean-up. “What does that even mean in the ecological garden?” someone asked. Should it be called clean-up, when what we’re]]> Sat, 12 Sep 2020 03:01:17 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyvnNuMIJyU22 <![CDATA[Free Webinar: Native Bees in the Garden]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyiRFMxTa8z4W <![CDATA[Free Webinar: Native Bees in the Garden I'll be talking about native bees from a gardener's perspective online Sunday, June 14 at 2:30 pm CDT. Excited to be part of West Cook Wild Ones' series of monthly talks! Did you know that the Chicago area has some 480 species of native bees? Many of these species are understudied and some appear to be in decline. Research shows, however, that urban areas can be a great refuge for them. Come and]]> Thu, 11 Jun 2020 19:05:34 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyiRFMxTa8z4W <![CDATA[Carbon Gardening: A Podcast at Growing Greener]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlylT72x6uxjiK <![CDATA[Carbon Gardening: A Podcast at Growing Greener Thomas Christopher podcasts Thomas Christopher does a great series of podcast interviews about sustainable gardening and landscaping, well worth listening to. So many are interviews with folks I admire.  I felt honored to be included. You can listen to our discussion about carbon gardening here. Related Posts: Carbon gardening: A natural Climate Solution that Can Help Reduce Co2 Emissions]]> Wed, 22 Apr 2020 19:10:28 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlylT72x6uxjiK <![CDATA[Early Spring Notes: Life in the Garden During a Risky Time]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyjRQaTQYXBS9 <![CDATA[Early Spring Notes: Life in the Garden During a Risky Time Cooper's Hawk There’s a glory of snowdrops in the backyard, glowing in the sun. One recent, warm day that included some sunshine, rare in this part of the world at this season, I strolled out in the afternoon and started cutting back last year’s stalks, as I do every year. Spring cleanup is always a messy process, what with stacking small bundles of stalks in various places, adding some to]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2020 18:29:29 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyjRQaTQYXBS9 <![CDATA[A Nearly Infinitely Adaptable Recipe for Ecological Regeneration and Soil Carbon Sequestration]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlypONpYks2fGs <![CDATA[A Nearly Infinitely Adaptable Recipe for Ecological Regeneration and Soil Carbon Sequestration Cattle help prairie management at Platte River Prairies Though I have no personal aspirations of the farming or ranching kind, own neither property measured in acres nor livestock, and in fact eat no fish or meat (though I do eat dairy and eggs), I check in frequently with Soil4Climate, a Facebook group devoted to soil carbon sequestration and holistic grazing. I’ve learned a huge amount from]]> Sat, 29 Feb 2020 19:54:54 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlypONpYks2fGs <![CDATA[Carbon Gardening: A Natural Climate Solution that Can Help Reduce CO2 Emissions While Restoring Biodiversity]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyrb9ICM-PHur <![CDATA[Carbon Gardening: A Natural Climate Solution that Can Help Reduce CO2 Emissions While Restoring Biodiversity Winter and summer, the native plant gardens at the UW Arboretum sequester carbon while adding beauty and habitat. Designed by Darrel Morrison. Gardeners new to the concept of carbon gardening often ask these two questions: What good soil management strategies will help maximize carbon sequestration? And, what would be a good plant palette to help accomplish this? Good questions both, to]]> Mon, 27 Jan 2020 18:11:08 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/2eycfcgO6FKO3a5sijRlyrb9ICM-PHur