Doug Tallamy: Restoring Nature’s Relationships at Home (recording posted below)

Marne Titchenell: Enhancing Your Landscape for Birds and Other Wildlife

Debra Knapke: Eco-Conscious Gardening: From Concept to Design

The Living Landscape Speaker Series is co-sponsored by OSU Entomology and The Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Garden, in cooperation with the Franklin County Master Gardener Volunteers and the Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Garden Volunteers. Funding is provided in part by the Manitou Fund and NIFA’s IPM Pollinator Health grant.

Doug Tallamy: Restoring Nature’s Relationships at Home (find recording here)

Specialized relationships between animals and plants are the norm in nature rather than the exception. It is specialized relationships that provide our birds with insects and berries, that disperse our bloodroot seeds, that pollinate our goldenrod, and so on.  Plants that evolved in concert with local animals provide for their needs better than plants that evolved elsewhere.  Tallamy will explain why this is so, why specialized food relationships determine the stability and complexity of the local food webs that support animal diversity, why our yards and gardens are essential parts of the ecosystems that sustain us, and how we can use our landscapes to connect the isolated habitat fragments around us. It is time to create landscapes that enhance local ecosystems rather than degrade them.

Recommended reading: Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy,  Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy, and The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy

Nature’s Best Hope: Frequently Asked Questions by Doug Tallamy

Native Plant Finder website, National Wildlife Federation and Doug Tallamy

Marne Titchenell: Enhancing Your Landscape for Birds and Other Wildlife (find recording here)

Birds and other wildlife handout PDF

Songbirds, butterflies and other wildlife bring a dynamic joy to the landscape, especially in challenging times. Marne will discuss creating habitat for birds and other creatures, including use of bird feeders, bird baths, and nest boxes (bluebirds, wrens, chickadees). She will highlight favorite bird- and pollinator-friendly plants, the importance of adding dead wood to the landscape, plus how to best configure resources for garden visitors.

Recommended reading

Debra Knapke: Eco-Conscious Gardening: From Concept to Design (find recording here)

Every age has its catchphrases. Today’s gardens are shaped by goals such as sustainable, regenerative, and eco-conscious. We are becoming increasingly sensitive to our impact on the earth and its inhabitants as we confront issues such as air and water pollution, soil degradation, and climate change. There is power in creating gardens that are based on ecological models, especially if they exist – or can exist – on your site. What are these ecological models? Join Debra Knapke as she outlines the process of understanding and then creating an eco-conscious garden.

Eco-Conscious Gardening notes PDF

Chat transcript from webinar (interesting links, plant suggestions and more!)

Debra the Garden Sage website

Books by Debra Knapke

Recommended reading

Rick Darke: Dynamic Design and The Art of Observation

This session was not recorded, per Rick’s request, but you can watch his webinar on this topic given for Fallingwater in PA; it’s excellent!

The ability to see deeply is the most important skill any of us can bring to the enjoyment, understanding, and stewardship of personal and shared places. This skill is especially important when designing and managing living landscapes that support dynamic ecologies. Rick Darke will present the art of observation and strategies derived from a celebration of the unprogrammed qualities of our gardens and community landscapes.

Suggested references: The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy, Gardens of the High Line by Piet Oudolf and Rick Darke.

More recommended reading here