Landscape that a webpage forgot.

          LISTS, LISTS, LISTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL BLOGS.  

When reading material on the internet, it does seem as though landscapes and gardens get forgotten when reading serious environmental matters.  Next time you go to a website on global green issues, see if you can find anything about landscaping and what we do to the space outside our homes.   This really is something that gets forgotten, unless you happen to click on the topics themselves.

• For example, see this list from www.abc.net.au/environment/ 

ALL

·         CLIMATE CHANGE

·         ENERGY

·         FOOD

·         FORESTS

·         GREEN BUSINESS

·         GREEN LIVING

·         HEALTH

·         LAND MANAGEMENT

·         MURRAY DARLING BASIN

·         NATURE

·         OCEANS & REEFS

·         POLLUTION

·         TRANSPORT

·         WASTE

·         WATER

·         WEATHER

A John Ruskin Quote - However, Plants are Not Made Equal

Agies seeding themselves, and in the
front garden, too! 

Being thus prepared for us in all ways, and made beautiful, and good for food, and for building,
and for instruments of our hands, this race of plants, deserving boundless affection and
admiration from us, becomes, in proportion to their obtaining it, a nearly perfect test of our
being in right temper of mind and way of life; so that no one can be far wrong in either who
loves trees enough, and everyone is assuredly wrong in both who does not love them,
if his life has brought them in his way."
-   John Ruskin, 1819-1900, Modern Painters VI  

That quote pretty much captures it all.

But there is one thing I should add that all plants and trees are not made equal.  Noxious and environmental weeds are our second largest ecological issue in this country, after land-clearing. 

On one of my more dangerous landscaping jobs this week which involved a piece of metal getting wedged in my eye along with a smidgeon of rust, I did still spy a goodly number of Agapanthus (Agapanthus praecox spp. orientalis) spreading about the eastern and inner suburbs of Melbourne (and coastally, too). It is a real takeover bid in public and private places. What I don't like is how they dwarf a lot of the native shrubs and really look quite silly protruding out of otherwise quite tame garden beds.  It's important to dead head them ie remove the flowers before the seeds disperse.

Over the holidays, I will send some letters to councils and local papers about this.  In the meantime, check out this list of well-known weeds.

http://www.gregsindigenouslandscapes.com.au/Environmental%20Weeds.htm

Tricky course finally finished.

Well, a bunch of us finished our Sustainable Landscape Design course this week, and we are all pretty proud, as out of 45 people starting across two streams,  two and a half years ago, apparently only 16 of us have got through.  Apparently the course is one of its kind in the world, with a similar title anyway. It was a great exercise in getting your head around designing on the computer, dropping all those bad gardening and landscaping habits and just coming to appreciate what we have around us and how divine and precious it is.  It seemed apt tonight when I went out in to my garden and found about 10 tomatoes on my vines. They've come a bit early this year, thanks to all the rain.

And, what a fantastic bunch of people we've met over the last two years, and have to thank  them for being so inspiring and knowledgeable, Frances, Mim,  Brad, Stu, James, Kerry, Helen,  Gary, (Swinburne teachers) and Bruce, Tracey, Ryan, and all the fantastic staff at Sustainable Gardening Australia (my volunteer job).  I also have to thank Andrew for his help when I was struggling with getting my head around some complex building aspects, and without whose help the green roof would most certainly not have got up so smoothly.  I also have to thank my family, especially my son, Sebastian for putting up with the infernal tirades at the Vectorworks software programme (oh, and the vodka helped too).

Roof garden on chook shed is progressing .. See blog 28/6/11

Roof garden on Chook Shed cost less than AUD $100

Planted in 3 cm of substratum, instead of the standard 5cm plus

Green The Film

When building an Outdoor Room, ask yourself where is your timber coming from -  watch http://www.greenthefilm.com/ before you decide to use timber from native forests overseas.  As you lounge in your outdoor setting, the lovely orang-utans are languishing and perishing.  

Q,R, S, T, U, V etc Sustainability Alphabet Soup

Decided to refer to this as a Sustainability alphabet soup.  Dot-points. We greenies have a tendency to be too long-winded in what we say!  A person designing their Outdoor Room or Garden can mull over this alphabet soup before making any decisions.  

Q is for ...... err .... Queen Elizabeth, and her family who are avid produce gardeners
R is for Resources -  always check the Source, Rainforest source (A big no no), Reclaimed or recycled source, Roof Gardens.
S is for Soil erosion and Salinity, Shade Trees, Stormwater discharge and the impacts
T is for Top-soil (all the vital living beings within it) and Towns in Transition (Totnes, UK!)
U is for Urban Heat Island Effect
V is for Vertical Gardening (Produce, Ornamental, air-cooling, indoor or outdoors, horticultural therapy)
W is for WSUD (water sensitive urban design), Wind-breaks, Waste (from building works), Worm wee, and Worms.
X  is for ....  err ... help.  
Y is for ... Yard ...  have to come back to that one, too.
Z is for Zoning in the garden eg hydrozoning, plant-stacking (shade for plants)