Serenity in the Garden

  My Talk: Aligning with Natural Forces:  Sustainable Garden Design using Native Plants Saturday  Oct. 1, 2011    at the Westchester Community College, Valhalla, NY 10:30 am - 12:30 pm The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.  ~ Paul Hawken    Sustainable Landscape Design encourages a healthy biosphere and stresses both beauty and function. My upcoming Powerpoint talk is a blend of inspiration and practical ideas you can use to transform challenging sites into beautiful outdoor spaces using native plants. In my 2 hour class I will share captivating ideas and photos that illustrate what combinations of native plants to use which drainage measures you can take and what design techniques you can implement to transform any site whether it is steep or level, wooded or open,  suburban or urban.   For example, the Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) that I wrote about a

  Lost  by David Wagoner photo by Jan Johnsen (NYBG - pinus bungeana) Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known.   photo by Jan Johnsen (one of my gardens) The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. photo by Blondieb If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you. from Collected Poems 1956-1976 © Indiana University Press