As we gardeners and weekend landscapers work to beautify our personal outdoor space, we have a tremendous opportunity to be greener at the same time. In fact, our opportunity may be bigger than it is for most others. That's because many of the things we normally do to make our personal environment look manicured and beautiful are anything but green.
Water is one resource that gardeners and landscapers around the country have gained a new appreciation
...(more)
Part of the problem stems from our desire to achieve quick results with the least effort. In our haste to get it done fast, we take shortcuts, like not reading the application instructions for chemicals. We often assume that if one part per gallon is good, then five parts must be a whole lot better.
Careless or over-application of chemicals is an obvious hindrance to creating a more eco-friendly garden. What are other, less obvious ways we can green our gardens, while saving precious resources?
Consider water. Severe restrictions on water use and even total bans have given us all a new appreciation of it. More is being written and said about water conservation than ever before. Terms such as "rain barrels," "cisterns," "swales," "rain gardens" and "xericscaping," although not totally unfamiliar, have become part of our everyday vernacular.
As we look for ways to save water at every turn of the faucet, even the plants themselves are being scrutinized for the amount of water they consume to look their best. Less-thirsty alternatives are being featured as a viable way to reduce water consumption, while still having plants that look great yet more tolerant of drier conditions.
So how do we know how to find such plants? Other than spending a few minutes on the Internet, not many of us truly take the time to research this information before heading to the nursery. There, it's often an impulse buy rather than an educated, well-executed strategy to seek out and purchase plants that are less water-needy.
I recently passed through a garden center. What caught my eye was a simple plant tag, but not the kind you normally expect to see. This one was shaped like a water droplet. As I moved in for a closer look, the tag simply said "Water Wise, Conservation Through Education."
The back of the tag stated: "The Water Wise symbol identifies plant varieties and maturity levels that require less water." Now that's a great idea, alerting consumers right at the point of sale. How easy is that? If I want to know more, I simply go to the Web site listed, Learn2Grow.com/WaterWise.
That's what I'm talking about — finding simple ways for the gardening consumer to make wise, environmentally responsible decisions without feeling overwhelmed. It's a creative idea with a huge opportunity.
The more we can do through education to alert gardeners and not-so-gardeners to simple ways to protect resources while still having a lush landscape, the sooner we can begin to heal the planet while making our world a more beautiful place. One garden at a time.
Joe Lamp'l, host of "Fresh from the Garden" on the DIY Network and "GardenSMART" on PBS, is a Master Gardener and author. For more information, visit www.joegardener.com and www.DIYnetwork.com.
