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Winter Wealth: A Gold Standard for Gardens
Gold is a precious commodity in a winter garden, bringing visual warmth and cheer when skies are gray. It's just the effect I need in the new garden I'm designing.
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Boost Your Garden Design Skills and Save Money at a Flower and Garden Show
4 commentsAttending a major flower and garden show can be a lot like grocery shopping while hungry. Here's how you can "purchase with purpose" while getting the most out of your visit.
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America In Bloom: Rebuilding Communities a Shovelful at a Time
1 commentOn its surface, America In Bloom's national competition appears to be simply a horticulture program aimed at beautifying towns and cities around the country. But the deeper benefits for those who embrace the challenge can lead to an economic boost and heightened community pride.
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Groovy Zoo Gardens
I was always grateful my former neighbor Janie, the elephant tender at the Santa Barbara Zoo, didn't bring her work home with her. But visiting her at her job gave me some great landscaping ideas.
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Gift Idea? Give the Hippest Garden Photos on the Planet
Nothing new about having a phone with your camera. But what if that camera was also a time machine that shot you back a few decades?
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Christmas Trees Should Smell Good
2 commentsThe American Christmas Tree Association says PVC trees are perfectly safe. No mention of petrochemicals, carcinogens, or worker safety. Gimme something that smells like a walk in the woods.
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Holey Crocs, Batman!
3 commentsRegular size people recognize me by my hat. But really teeny tiny people know me for my distinctive, perforated footwear. I'm a Crocs kinda guy. But rather than throw out the old ones, I keep them in service as micro vertical gardens.
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Plant Tags: So Much to Say, So Little Space
4 commentsThere's not a lot of room on a nursery tag, but sometimes it’s all the information we have when the “ME NEED PLANT” neurons commence to firing. So, what if you could fire up your smart phone, scan a QR code, and tap a deep mine of information?
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Time Machine Tales Part II: Long Strange Trip To The Garden
I kick myself knowing that while I was living out my rock and roll fantasy, I'd come within flower plucking distance of places like Longwood Gardens, the JC Raulston Arboretum, the Memphis Botanical Garden, and scores of places I'd love to visit today. As George Bernard Shaw reminds us, "Youth is wasted on the young."
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Surprise at the Indianapolis Museum of Art: A Paved Paradise
1 commentI visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art housing over 50,000 works representing a variety of cultures and 5000 years of art history. But I'll have to take their word for it, since I spent my time trying to make a dent in 152 acres of gardens, woodlands, wetlands, lake shore, meadows, and even their parking lot.
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Taking On Lawn Alternatives With The Garden Designers Roundtable
5 commentsOther than a place to teach your dog to play lacrosse, I don't see much use for conventional turf lawns. So I knew just what I'd write about when the Garden Designers Roundtable asked me to write an article about lawn alternatives. And the perfect topic for getting the discussion in gear is Reimagining the California Lawn, even if you garden 3000 miles away.
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Chardonnay and Herbs Meet in Sonoma Wine County
2 commentsSaxon Holt and Tammi Hartung's book about herbs is the perfect excuse to share my recent speaking trip to the Bay Area. And I got a whole day to just play.
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About this column
Enter the world of sustainable gardening with Billy Goodnick's "Cool Green Gardens" blog. Billy lives in Santa Barbara, CA, and delivers a West Coast perspective on landscape design that will translate into your own backyard. Check out CGG for great ideas on reducing your impact on the environment and creating a landscape that is an extension of your home.Billy Goodnick, a landscape architect, educator and writer, shares the wisdom he has gathered from thirty-five years of retail nursery sales, landscaping, designing and teaching. He'll challenge your assumptions while putting a smile on your face with his off-the-wall humor.
Whether you're seeking to fine-tune your existing garden or are starting with a clean slate, Cool Green Gardens is your go-to resource for sustainable ideas, innovation and inspiration.
