Anti-landscapes bill defeated
By AmericanHort
Editor’s Note: The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Garden Center magazine.
The House of Representatives just approved a multi-year transportation bill, and the House and Senate are proceeding with a process to iron out their differences. (This is called “going to conference,” something we have not seen too often in recent years).
And there is good news within the good news. During the debate, Reps. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) and Richard Hudson (R-NC) offered an amendment that would have broadly prohibited federal transportation funds from being used for vegetative enhancements, also and often known as landscaping. AmericanHort, the American Society of Landscape Architects and others mobilized to successfully defeat this amendment, on a vote of 255 nays to 172 yeas.
Yes, this was a critical victory for horticulture. But let’s unpack it and think about what it means. At its core, the fact that two Republicans (who are friendly to our industry on many other issues) even offered this amendment means that we’ve got a lot of work to do. And, roughly two-thirds of their Republican colleagues voted with them. The amendment failed because 71 Republicans joined every single Democrat to vote it down. How did your Representative vote?
Clearly, the vote underscores that many still see landscape enhancements as pretty but non-essential. Yet we know that functioning landscapes stabilize and protect the soil. They filter air and water pollution. They contribute to property values and create a sense of well-being. They sustain pollinators and wildlife. We made these points to Rep. Hartzler and her staff, but she was unmoved.
Read more here: http://bit.ly/1IGW7Ed
National Garden Bureau awards $10,000 in grants to therapeutic gardens
After collecting over 100,000 votes from supporting fans, the 2015 National Garden Bureau (NGB) grant program has announced the three recipients of its 2015 Growing For Futures grant program.
First started in 2014, Growing for Futures is the philanthropic program of NGB that supports the building and growth of therapeutic gardens across North America, furthering the mission of the organization to promote gardening to gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
The three gardens and the grant amounts are:
- The Riverwood Conservancy Enabling Garden, Mississauga, Ontario.
First place vote-recipient; winner of the $5,000 grant.
The Riverwood Conservancy’s Enabling Garden is the only therapeutic garden in the Greater Toronto area helping children and adults overcome physical, cognitive and emotional difficulties.
- Cape Fear Botanical Garden, Fayetteville, N.C.
Second place vote-recipient; winner of the $3,000 grant.
This therapeutic garden focuses on outreach to the area’s discharged military population through programs that offer the opportunity to learn new skills, promote healthy living through home gardening and encourage interaction with peers and community during the transition to a civilian lifestyle.
- Green Chimneys Children’s Garden, Brewster, N.Y.
Third place vote-recipient; winner of the $2,000 grant.
Green Chimneys is an internationally recognized garden offering an effective solution for healing and improving the lives of children struggling with a variety of social, emotional and behavioral challenges through nature-based therapies.
Study finds plants need active social lives to stay healthy
In research findings released in October, Canadian plant science researchers, in collaboration with Montreal-based Inocucor Technologies Inc., discovered new clues about the active social lives of plants, which use molecular signals to engage in constant life-enhancing conversations with thousands of microbes in their ecosystem.
Their findings, reviewed in Frontiers in Plant Science (“Signaling in the phytomicrobiome: breadth and potential,” Sept. 2015), promise to help plant scientists and agriculture bioscience companies develop better approaches to growth promotion and disease prevention for field crops. The phytomicrobiome includes the microorganisms found in plants and in the soil immediately surrounding them, according to a press release by Inocucor on the findings.
“The phyto-microbiome is like a crowded party. You hear a din of conversation, but it is difficult to make out what any one person is saying,” said the study’s author and lead researcher, Dr. Donald L. Smith, chair of Inocucor’s Scientific Advisory Board and a plant science professor at McGill University.
“We now understand that a plant growing in the field is an ecosystem that relies on harmonious connections with its microbial community to thrive, especially when threatened by drought or other extreme weather conditions,” Smith said. “This new knowledge will help us develop effective, low-cost, eco-friendly crop inputs that reduce fossil-fuel-intense inputs on farms.”
These insights will also guide scientists on how to use beneficial microbes to improve the ability of plants to adapt to various soil and climatic conditions, leading to enhanced crop yields, said Smith.
Microbes in the soil, on the root surface and in the cells between the roots release “signaling compounds” to communicate with each other and the plant they live with, in a “collective effort to survive,” he said.
HEAR MORE about this research from Dr. Donald Smith in the “The Hidden Social Lives of Plants” podcast on the Retailer Radio Network station on iTunes. http://bit.ly/1lyWFa7