Let's remember hurricanes and the importance of gardens

Just wanted to write what great news the Election result is for Mr Obama,and all of America. Such a happy day! Of course, it's  a long road ahead too, but at least there is hope for the health care policies that have been introduced, and for laws that will make America a fairer country for all.  I was just having a think whether or not the Democrats policies have anything interesting in store for landscapes and gardens (anything blooming, new and bold). I had a quick look but the usual topics being covered were 'oil', renewable energy, 'gas' policies and such like.  Now what do the topics all have in common - they are resources and they all come from the ground. This set me thinking about all things topical, including the recent Hurricane Sandy that TreeHugger blog is saying has broken all manner of climatic records.

What people forget is how important gardens are in the context of storms, heavy precipitation and hurricanes. Gardens provide permeable surfaces which help absorb stormwater which otherwise pools in our laneways and roads. Stormwater drains are limited by their capacity to accept these water flows, as we see with any flooding event.

So let's be bold about gardens, parks, and any other form of plantable surface, including rain gardens, verge gardens, community produce gardens, and roof gardens.   They are all bound to help out in a serious storm by helping to absorb water overflows and divert the rain away from homes and public buildings. Also, gardens provide us with oxygen, clean out carbon dioxide, provide shade and mitigate the heat island effect - the benefits of gardens are endless. (I have spoken a lot about water sensitive urban design in my early posts and the benefits of gardens over built up areas).


Rainwater Fact: According to a site The Groundwater Foundation (a U.S site), compared with a conventional lawn, rain gardens allow for 30 per cent more water to soak in to the ground.

http://www.groundwater.org/ta/raingardens.html


And finally, watch this video which might have had some influence on why Mitt Romney didn't win the election:

http://grist.org/politics/the-most-brutal-ad-youll-see-this-election/

Bird Habitat Matters

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/feed-or-not-feed-0

This is a great link for whether to feed birds in your backyard, and other habitat info.

TOP OF THE ROCK - BIRDS ROCK!

Link to Converse Conserve eco-cartoon

Here is a link to a post on my Converse Conserve site and a cartoon sourced from Green Humour Blogspot under a creative commons licence generously shared by cartoonist Rohan Chakravarty.

A number of us are interested in using visual images and humour to promote uptake of green causes.

Rohan Chakravarty is an amazing cartoonist and his cartoons are so powerful in the way they send a hopeful yet heartfelt message which every one of us, including the mainstream audience can understand.

http://www.converseconserve.com/cc-blog.html#.UHajL29JP4A

Here is a cartoon by someone close to me who prefers to remain anonymous, which is truly relevant to gardening!

Land- management and cities article

Here is an article which I wrote last week which is relevant to this blog.

It's a bit long, but it kind of summarises what this blog is all about.

It's a tad serious and could do with lightening up, but I just didn't find the time to rewrite it.

I will make sure my next Urban Times contribution is not so serious in its tone.

Enjoy!

http://urbantimes.co/2012/09/cities-land-management/

Dr Michael Dunlop - an interview

I am lucky to be at home, listening to a radio interview on Radio National, with Dr Michael Dunlop, Senior Researcher with Ecosystem Sciences at the CSIRO, and they are talking about how our landscapes are changing and will change - substantially in the next 20-30 years. (I am making a note of what he says, as it has cogency in relation to how our urban landscapes are also changing, and actually feeds the conversation in both 'camps'.)

He is saying, we can expect these transformations to happen over the whole of Australia - forests turning to woodlands, woodlands changing to grasslands, and this is something that we will all start to notice over the next few decades.  He even says our Australian bush will start to smell different - and we will see new species coming to dominate and others disappear.  The study uses modelling and observation as to how biodiversity is changing.

We will see more complicated weather patterns and fire patterns and river flows in Australia, and so it will be harder to interpret what is going on.  Eg in Tasmania we are seeing new native and exotic species, and not necessarily caused just by climate change.

So we need to change our conservation mindset.  It's not going to be just about maintaining the type of species that are there now, we will have to adapt, and 'help biodiversity adapt' he says.  Some species will have to move, and so it will be vital to rethink how we focus on one or another species, and instead adopt a 'landscape as a whole' approach rather than a threatened species approach.

This means our national parks and reserves are so vital.  These are designed to provide for a range of habitat so even if one species leaves, it's an invitation for others to come in.  Private land is also key in providing habitat.

He does acknowledge (despite his fairly positive tone) that we won't be 'passing on as rich a landscape to our grandchildren' but he hopes that with our guidance, we can still provide the best opportunity for many, many species to survive, including new ones.

An interesting outlook and one which no doubt will throw up a bit of controversy amongst conservationists.

Libertia peregrinans a weedy terror

Getting in to spring, at last and what a gorgeous day it was today, so am getting a bit more inspired to get going on this 'blooming' blog with more rigour.

Now I was enjoying today's  sunshine that Melburnians hanker for, after, what for us has been a real winter  (with nights where it's got down to four degrees or less... ouch - that is cold for us, and our houses weren't designed to take such low temperatures). I was out there planting a new grevillea, and I noticed how the Libertia peregrinans is simply taking over the garden (and will post a photo here shortly). It's a strappy plant found commonly in nurseries, emanating from New Zealand, that is drought tolerant, and pretty, but not being native to this country, one needs to bear in mind that these exotics have a habit of taking over! I also read that this species is under threat in New Zealand, so may be it's encoded in its genes that when it gets to a new country that it should go forth and populate. Don't ever rely on nurseries to be mindful of weedy plants unless they are certified with someone like Sustainable Gardening Australia! Weedy plants are for sale and widespread in nurseries.

So, it pays to look up the weediness habit of exotics before you plant them  (in more extreme cases they are known as invasive species), because you will end up paying with all the cutting back you will need to do, and also the constant digging up of those self-seeded stalks, as I'm finding all over the blooming garden.  

And weeds are not supportive of bio-diversity as they compete for water, soil, nutrients and light against all the good guys, which means the plants that would help sustain the wildlife may be placed in jeopardy. Indeed, I was watching the 7.30 report and the wombat is dying out in this country merely because the onion weed has spread and is outnumbering the natural grasses, so it's diet is disappearing.  A good cause to support.