I also asked Ecoscapes to put in a few shade trees that would mature in ten years or so because I have an old birch and the main tree shading my house is an ash…and there’s an Ash Borer epidemic that supposedly wipes out everything in its path. Here’s the joke: I found out after they were finished that the Hackberrys they planted are…did you guess?…ash trees!! I’ll have to call to see if they were treated with preventive chemicals. Once the trees are infected, there’s no recovery; you have to treat them in advance. Our local reasonably-priced arborists are charging $110 for a small tree in the ash family, up to $400 for a big old one.

Last weekend was the Minnesota Living Green Expo at the State Fairgrounds, which aren’t far from my house.  I volunteered two hours for the Twin Cities Chapter of Wild Ones, which had a really nice booth located in the farthest recesses of the Outdoor tent.  I was pretty late because I had trouble finding it.  There were other groups and landscape companies located there, a compost booth, government conservation agencies, and a Friends school that raises money every year with a big annual Mother’s Day Plant Sale.  I picked up the catalog, but can’t go because my family has other plans.

When my booth time was over,  I barely had time to make all the booths on the first floor of the grandstand to pick up their literature for later review.  I ran up and down the aisles picking up free totes and brochures, cards, samples for an amazing range of products and services exhibiting there.  There were electric cars.  Segway tours.  A bike you could ride to light up an incandescent bulb (100% effort), florescent bulb (25% effort), and LED bulb (10% effort).  There were windmills, solar panels, and rainbarrels.  Roofing, siding, insulation, and flooring.  Ecofriendly architects and builders.  Landscape architects.  Children’s books and clothing.  Even Target and Walmart were there with information and displays about the extensive collection of ecofriendly products they sell.

I never stopped to chat, and I still never made it to the second floor.

Raingarden

I ordered two flats of natural plants from the Twin Cities chapter of Wild Ones that will arrive after I leave for Washington for the summer, so on Monday two members of the chapter are coming over for lunch in the garden (pray for sun!) and a planning session on the plantings.  Mary Schommer will plant my plants after I leave, and a young lawyer staying at my place this summer while I’m gone will water them

While I’m civic-minded about water conservation and pollution, I must admit I’m most attracted to the native plants because they more or less take care of themselves after the first year.  An inch of rainwater will keep them happy for a long time without help from my hose or water bill.  Wow! (And Whew! And WooHoo!) 

At the recent MetroBlooms workshop, they showed pictures of attractive native plants with roots as deep as 13 feet.  My grasses’ roots are more like three inches.  No wonder Lorrie Otto (see below) was against grass.  Here’s what the World Wildlife Federation published about her disdain:

“HERE’S A QUIZ: What four-letter noun is a “sheared, poisoned, monotonous, sterile landscape,” created by human acts that are “immoral,” “evil” and “flagrantly wasteful of drinking water and our non-renewable resources?” Hint: You won’t find that definition in the dictionary. Those are descriptions offered over the years by naturalist Lorrie Otto, godmother of the movement known as natural landscaping. And the answer lies in that patch of green that Americans spend more than $25 billion a year to create and maintain: the lawn.”

Lorrie Otto

Tonight I had the honor of speaking to Lorrie Otto, dubbed by the World Wildlife Federation “The Godmother of Natural Landscaping.”   “In the last decade, the natural landscaping movement took root and spread from coast to coast. Lorrie Otto planted the seeds of the movement” says Wild Ones, a national organization founded by Otto that promotes native plantings.

According to WWF, “For more than four decades, Otto has waged a campaign to conserve natural habitat and its wildlife – starting with her own yard in Bayside, Wisconsin, and ranging as far afield as the national debate in the 1960s over banning the pesticide DDT. ‘More than anyone else, Lorrie Otto brought the whole idea of natural landscaping to the public’s view,’ says naturalist Craig Tufts, manager of NWF’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program.”

Now Lorrie is 90, retired, and living with her daughter in Bellingham, Washington.  I called her because there’s not yet a chapter anywhere in Washington State, and I thought I’d start one while I’m there for three months this summer.  I have friends there who are avid gardeners, and a son-in-law who has a landscaping firm in Olympia.

“These words of Lorrie Otto’s aptly summarize her life and legacy,” says Wild Ones:

                      “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, but rather borrow it from our descendants.”

This weekend I’ll be manning a Wild Ones booth at the Living Green Expo at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.  In a few weeks, I hope to be having lunch with Lorrie in Bellingham!

Here’s a video on raingardens:

Raingarden

Here’s a Metro Blooms video that shows how raingardens are made:  Metro Blooms – Rain Garden Video.  The purpose is to conserve rainwater and minimize water pollution in your community, the country and the world. 

Much of the Earth is in drought, while the oceans and waterways are expanding and flooding.  It’s a public service to keep your rain in your own yard!  It also helps the community and the planet when pollutants from your yard don’t make it into the public water supply.

This blog is about the joys and tribulations involved.