The Providential Gardener

No Child Left Inside ~ An Article for Background

The Providential Gardener loves hearing about "No Child Left Inside" efforts.* Sanne Kure-Jensen, a Rhode Island landscape professional and great news source herself,  sent along this link sent to her..... Here is an article written by the man who wrote the book on the subject.

See this Orion Magazine article "No Child Left Inside," published in 2007, by Richard Louw.

And speaking of children, I'll mention again the Children's Garden Network, which aims to have gardens at every school and youth organization throughout Rhode Island by 2010. Visitors to the Garden Show are responding enthusiastically to the program ~ clearly a good idea whose time has come. Let's help them make their goal, but also do what we can to see that these gardens are sustained over time.

*"The growing movement to reconnect children and nature, and to battle 'nature deficit disorder'"

Another Garden Book by Local Authors

Although last Saturday was warm and lovely enough to tempt me into the garden, we probably have many days ahead of us before we can do much work out there. I resisted pruning because it's not necessarily a good time to prune shrubs and trees when bitter cold weather is still likely, but March is coming. The RI Tree Council recommends pruning trees in late winter or early spring. [Oh, yes, my web search turned up a summary of local pruning info and advice I wrote in a PG post last year about pruning.] I'll sure have a lot to do outside in a couple of months!

Meanwhile, what better way to spend a snowy day  than to read a new gardening book or two. I wrote recently about Barbara Gee's wonderful new book, The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion, which I highly recommend. Barbara will be signing her book at Providence's Whole Foods in the University Heights shopping center on North Main Street, Saturday, January 19th, from noon to 3pm, and you can buy your copy there and then.

The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Ocean State is full of useful and specific information about Rhode Island soil, climate, plants that like growing in Rhode Island, and general gardening resources in our state. She includes comments from many Rhode Islanders, including John Phillip of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society, Rosanne Sherry of the URI Master Gardeners, Mike and Angie Chute of the Rhode Island Rose Society, and John Campanini of the Rhode Island Tree Council. The chapter, "Special Challenges: Seaside and City Gardens," has lists of plants suited to the shore, which can save coastal gardeners a lot of grief. Why try to grow plants where they wouldn't naturally grow? Maybe there are good reasons sometimes, but it's a lot more work and expense, and it's often doomed no matter what you do.

Barbara is not the only local author with a recent book, though (hers was in the store in December). Judy and Michel Marcellot of Seven Arrows published their first book, Sacred Gardens, last July. I am on their email list, and they just sent out their Early Winter Newsletter that describes their book:

Gardens and wild places have long been recognized for their ability to influence the human psyche.  Gardeners and non-gardeners alike will enjoy the authors' own story as they set out to create a public place where people come to visit, sit, relax and experience the peace and joy found in nature.  The authors chronicle their own path, seeking to live lives of peace and balance and to make a living at doing something they love.  Judy and Michel spoke with a Nobel Prize nominee, an internationally renowned expert in sacred landscape and scores of ordinary gardeners in an effort to define the nature of peace and sanctuary. Along the way, they met ordinary people who share their own stories, and how the simple act of gardening  changes lives and individuals.  You do not have to be a gardener to enjoy this book!

Well, this is another book for The Providential Gardener, who views Rhode Island as a garden we all share and tend. Support your local authors and buy their books. They love what they do and their joy is contagious.

The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion is Published!

I am delighted to report that Barbara Gee's second book, "The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Ocean State" is now available. If only I had had the energy to let you all know in time to buy it for a Christmas present! However, many of you may have gift certificates from a book store, and now that we can pack up Christmas stuff ~ those of us who got out all the boxes of decorations ~ we'll want to start dreaming of gardens and planning rampant flower beds and rows of luscious fruits and vegetables to harvest and enjoy. So, pick up a copy of this indispensable book! Barbara has already been out autographing copies, and I hope to have her autograph mine.

She emailed me recently:

I wrote the book from a completely non-synthetic, non-toxic and organic perspective - it covers gardening in Little Rhody from soup to nuts including soils, climate, plants (obviously), design, city & seaside gardening and there's a very substantial RI resources chapter with all the plant societies, public gardens, master gardener information listed plus good websites and books... It's the kind of book you refer to constantly - full of facts and great anecdotes from RI gardeners ...

Rhode Island Urban Coastal Greenways Design Manual

From RI Coastal Resources Management Council:

Folks: The CRMC in collaboration with the URI Coastal Resources Center/RI Sea Grant has just posted the Urban Coastal Greenways (UCG) design manual on the web at:
http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/metrosamp/ucg_manual/index.html
<http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/metrosamp/ucg_manual/index.html>
The manual should be used by applicants to meet the requirements of the CRMC UCG policy available at:
http://www.crmc.ri.gov/samp/metrobay.html
<http://www.crmc.ri.gov/samp/metrobay.html> . The design manual will be made available in both hard copy and on CDs soon. We'll send notice on how to obtain copies as soon as they're available. In the interim, please visit the website noted above and download a copy for your use.

James Boyd
Coastal Policy Analyst
RI Coastal Resources Management Council
Voice: 401.783.3370
Fax: 401.783.3767
Email: jboyd@crmc.ri.gov <mailto:jboyd@crmc.ri.gov.>
Web: www.crmc.ri.gov <http://www.crmc.ri.gov/>

Urban Stormwater Retrofit Practices Manual Published

From the Center for Watershed Protection in Ellicott City, Maryland:

The Center has released the Latest Manual in the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series.

Until now, no definitive guidance has been available on the art and science of urban retrofitting. The Center for Watershed Protection's new manual reflects over two decades of Center experience in retrofitting more than 25 urban watersheds across the country.

As a country, we have degraded many of our small urban watersheds. Nearly 80% of them were developed without effective stormwater practices. The key to restoring these watersheds lies in the practice of stormwater retrofitting, which involves subwatershed detective work, storm drain forensics and imaginative design.

This manual outlines the basics of retrofits, describes the 13 unique locations where they can be found, and presents rapid methods to find, design and deliver retrofits to meet a wide range of subwatershed objectives.

The concepts of retrofitting are illustrated in more than 75 figures, 150 photos, 60 tables and nine appendices. The manual contains

• updated costs for retrofit practices,
• updated pollutant removal data for stormwater treatment options,
• a design point method to estimate individual retrofit removal rates, and
• practical tips to support the design, permitting and construction of retrofit projects.

In short, the manual provides all the resources needed to develop an effective local retrofit program. This 400+ page guidance is available as a free download on the Center website. A hard copy of this manual will soon be made available.

Download Manual 3: Urban Stormwater Retrofit Practices

Imagining My Garden, Re-Imaging My Garden

Now that it is not only bitterly cold, but also a sheet of ice outside, what better way to spend the evening than reading garden books and planning our gardens?

The public libraries in towns throughout Rhode Island are full of wonderful resources for gardeners. For instance, search the Cooperating Libraries Automated Network (CLAN) online catalog ~ set the search from "TITLE" to "SUBJECT" and try your favorite green topics: ROSES are assigned 42 subjects, and there are more than 150 books in Rhode Island's public libraries on Roses. You can limit the search to your neighborhood library, but remember that if the book you want is in a different library, you can have it sent to your library through the CLAN system.

Need some ideas for what to read? The Providential Gardener is looking for books to recommend to gardeners who tend gardens in this Northeast climate. Yesterday I happened upon the Federation of (Rhode Island) Garden Clubs' list, "Gardening Books to Enjoy & Give As Gifts," compiled in December 2006 by Suzanne Tait: topics range from small gardens and houseplants to landscaping with stone, shade gardens, and gardening at the shore.

And also note the recently published Massachusetts Gardener's Companion, An Insider's Guide to Gardening from the Berkshires to the Islands, by writer and horticulturist, Barbara Gee.  This book is surely useful and interesting to Rhode Island gardeners as well. Barbara is making good progress on her next book, The Rhode Island Gardener's Companion, which will be published in a few months. Stay tuned! We Rhode Islander's will need both books!

This is a start, but you may have your own favorite gardening books. Send suggestions for garden reading with brief reviews to post on the Providential Gardener.

Environmental Book Club

The Audubon Environmental Education Center, Bristol, RI, is organizing an environmental book club! The first meeting will be Tuesday, March 20, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at the Center. Get in from page one: help decide frequency (monthly/quarterly) and/or recommend books to discuss. July Lewis, Policy Assistant at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, is compiling a reading list and is facilitating the group. She plans to organize additional groups in other parts of the state, so if Bristol is too much of a hike for you, let her know where you would like to have a group in Rhode Island. Email her, or give her a ring at 401-949-5454 x 3044 to be added to her list.

The Audubon Society interests The Providential Gardener because of the Society’s refuge and conservancy programs that preserve Rhode Island’s natural environment. Have you walked the trails they maintain? The whole state is our garden, so take some time to wander the Audubon’s garden paths ~ see what’s growing and who’s singing today.