12. February 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

Recently the cold weather here in south Florida hit some of the tropicals quite hard. Palm trees suffered most. My Licuala grandis has browning leaves and looks like something that belongs in the compost bin. As I drive the area and walk through the gardens here I have seen extensive damage to Alexander Palms, Christmas Palms, Coconut Palms, and others.

While those plants suffered through the cold, antique roses are in their element, and showing off. Several vareties of antique roses, Calliandras and perennials planted in my garden to feed butterflies and overwintering hummingbirds look fabulous. All of the perennial Salvias are showing off and the hummers are visiting them daily.

Antique roses putting on a show right now and showing no intolerance of the cold, include: Old Blush, Cecile Brunner, Louis Phillipe, Cramoisi Superieur, Champney’s Pink Cluster, Martha Gonzalez, Mrs. Dudley Cross, Duchess De Brebant and Caldwell Pink also known as Pink Pet.

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7. February 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

Landscapes can make a positive difference to reduce climate change and global warming.

According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin

    * Terrestrial plants capture more carbon dioxide (CO2) than all the oceans combined, globally.

    *  Carbon sequestered from plants and stored in the soil is twice the amount found in the atmosphere.

    * According to Architecture 2030, forty eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from buildings.

    * Landscape design, construction and maintenance changes can increase the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere.

As gardeners we can reduce carbon emissions by:

    * Hand pruning our plants with appropriate hand tools

   * Raking or sweeping leaves, or allowing them to remain and decay as mulch, rather than using noisy, polluting blowers to move them around

   * Recycling  leaves and garden debris (not infested with fungi or pests) by putting them into a compost pile rather than a plastic bag, which causes pollution through its manufacture

  * Using natural fertilizers and compost and composted animal manures to improve the quality of our soil, and wean our landscapes off of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals

(Remember the manufacturing processes of many chemical fertilizers pollute. And many chemicals used as pesticides are known carcinogens.)

   * Replacing turf grasses with natural paths and plants grown in their natural habits

(Those who say electric mowers are better are mistaken. Remember electricity production also creates pollution. Many electric power plants are fueled by coal.)

   * Provide the capture of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it indefinitely, through our gardens, especially our big trees

According to The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, the process by which plants store carbon begins with photosynthesis. Plants need their leaves for photosynthesis, so it’s a good idea to stop whacking them all off with a gas trimmer on a regular basis for that reason alone.

Through the process of photosynthesis plants capture carbon dioxide. They store it below ground. This organic carbon “sequestered” in the soil is a vital part of the carbon cycle. It represents a carbon store twice as large as that in the atmosphere.

Managing soil and vegetation to maximize carbon sequestration can positively impact greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Various ecosystems are efficient at storing carbon below ground. Saturated conditions of wetlands don’t allow the breakdown of dead plant material providing excellent carbon storage.

Native Grassland soils also contain great stores of carbon, as these grasses put more biomass below ground than above – the carbon bound up these soils can be stored there for hundreds of years.

Conserving and restoring natural landscapes is important. Creating more natural living landscapes in our homes, suburban and city neighborhoods is vital.  If we fail to design and manage our living landscapes better than we have in the past, we will continue to negatively impact global climate change.

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6. February 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

This is what I learned when I finally reached someone at Port Everglades to discuss the findings of lead in the water at levels higher than the 15 parts per billion (per litre) Federal regulations allow.

According to Pia Thompson and Jennifer Ganary, who the port director, Phil Allen, directed me to speak with, of the six sites tested at the port which show higher lead levels, the low test was at 52.3 mg per litre and the high at 539 mg. Those are some high numbers.

According to Thompson and Ganary, the only off site areas which rely on water from the 15 distribution sites at the port are the Harbor Shops on 17th Street.

I have not seen any documents which show this to be the case.

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1. February 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

The next time you visit an area of natural beauty and see the Green that nature creates, notice that the Green Living Landscape, when it is healthy, has not been chemically engineered, and yet it is beautiful, the plants are green. No one planted the trees and shrubs and no one pours bags of fertilizer and pesticides and fungicides into the area. No one runs their noisy dirty power tools to keep the landscape cut into graphic structures. The natural landscape, though without the touch of a talented designer,is a model for a truly Green landscape. It lives without all the engineering and chemicals that far too many gardeners today depend on.

While design is an important consideration for home gardens, continuing to grow plants that require so many chemicals in order to thrive is detrimental to the health of the living landscape. Chemicals in soil, air, water and even our food supply are reaching frightening proportions. The chemical load in our bodies is also at an all time high.

It just makes sense to stop growing plants and lawns that require so much engineering, so many chemicals. The carbon footprint of engineered landscapes may surprise you.  Gas power tools have a carbon footprint. The manufacturing of the chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fugicides produce more carbon footprints. The chemicals, when we make them a habit, become part of the landscape, our air, water, soil, food and bodies. Many of these contaminants are known to have deleterious health affects, many are known  carcinogens.

The wonderful thing is, there are so many wonderful plants that can thrive in any landscape provided one plants the right plant in the right place. Planting plants in conditions where they thrive, one begins to create a Green garden.

Consider for example, those who force sickly hybrid tea roses to live in south Florida gardens. Many hybrid teas require, not only improved soil (which is an easy thing to provide) but also heavy doses of fungicides. This addiction to chemicals is an unnecessary and unhealthy way to garden. Chose an alternative. Learn the choices. There are other roses one can grow here. Chose non-fussy antique China roses that perform well in zones 10 or 9 for a south Florida garden instead of sickly chemical dependent hybrid teas, which will not thrive in our humidity and heat.

When planting a suitable rose, amend the alkaline sandy soil with some compost and milled spaghnum peat moss and place the rose in full sun and you have the glory of roses without the chemicals.

Learn about the alternatives to your finicky plants and grasses. It is unnecessary to keep injecting so many chemicals into our living landscape, our food supply, our bodies.

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