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Did Vertical Gardening Start During The Gold Rush?
1 commentThe eastern face of Telegraph Hill looked wild and inaccessible, like El Capitan rising from the floor of Yosemite Valley. The rock face cascaded with ribbons of green, framed by the shimmering golden foliage of poplar trees. Fortunately, we weren't going to need a Sherpa or oxygen masks to mount our assault - we'd hoof it a couple of blocks to the Filbert Steps and take the more civilized route.
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A Book That Fattens Your Wallet and Warms Your Home
If you're interested in reducing your energy bills and making your landscaping more beautiful, Sue Reed's book, Energy-Wise Landscape Design belongs on your holiday gift list.
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Let Mr. Spock Choose Your Plants
12 commentsWhat if a truck dumped 8,000 different plants in front of your house. Could you sort through them and create a garden that works for you, doesn't eat up all your time and money and makes your knees quiver?
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Dumber Than A Potted Plant? Not So Fast
2 commentsA drizzly day in San Diego, a camera, and mass confusion about what to write about. Then I noticed what brilliant structural engineers plants could be. It's all about resisting The Big G -- GRAVITY!
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Rain Dance
1 commentI'm a slug, not a lizard. I'd rather be under a boulder than baking on top of it. My ideal weather is the cool temps of a SoCal winter; my favorite sound is rain softly thumping on fallen leaves...
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Dallas in September: Sweatier Than A Bronco Rider's...
For all you folks who live where the summer norm is 90-plus temps and 2437.3% humidity, I am in awe of you. I've been back from the Garden Writers Association annual symposium in Dallas for a few weeks and I just don't know how y'all do it. My raging souvenir cold has run its course, induced, no doubt, by slogging from the uber air conditioned hotel, to vegetable-crisper busses, to jungle-steamy-hot gardens best described as "air you can wear."
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Scotts Miracle-Gro Stole My Ammo
21 commentsSince I also love taking pot shots at those who I perceive as bad guys, imagine my delight when I saw that the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was sponsoring breakfast at the annual Garden Writers Association symposium in Dallas last week. "Great," I thought, anticipating fuel to top off my next Molotov cocktail rant.
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Calling On The Capitol - DC Revisited
4 commentsI'm not a conspiracy theorist, but something's up. Why would those tricky devils at the Garden Writers Association derive so much pleasure from watching me perspire? A little background: I...
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San Francisco Road Trip Part I - UC Berkeley Botanical Garden
8 commentsCool as it's been in my hometown of Santa Barbara, Lin and I decided to get out of town for a few days and subject ourselves to the San Francisco fog monster. Saturday was the big deal, horticulturally speaking. I've heard for years about the legendary 10,000-plus species collection ensconced at the 34-acre University of California Botanical Garden on the Berkeley campus. I headed into the wilds of the Garden with trusty camera...
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Five Step Program for SMS - Help Is On The Way
7 commentsDo you find yourself stumbling around your yard, arms extended zombie-like, a plant in each hand, mumbling "Where can I put these?"
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The American Meadow Garden : Win A Free Copy of John Greenlee's Book!
125 commentsI couldn't wait to get my hot little hands on The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn, (Timber Press) written by grass and meadow madman John Greenlee, and seductively photographed by Saxon Holt. The book promised tools for my landscape architect's bag of tricks-philosophical reassurance, design inspiration, a new palette of plants, how-to details.
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Great Garden Speakers - Coming To Your Town?
GreatGardenSpeakers.com is a brand new website helping garden clubs, Master Gardener groups, botanical institutions, nature centers, garden shops, flower shows bring informed and dynamic speakers to their programs and pack the house. Now, finding the right speaker is a near as your computer.
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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.
