YOUR RESPONSE to my spring series of “Garden 2.0” webinars was enthusiastic—and then some. Thank you! So what do you say we just keep on learning together this summer, with a monthly meetup for an expert talk and Q&A?
How do three more 90-minute distractions from the wider mad, mad world sound right about now, with each session offering an updated, ecologically smarter look at an essential garden subject?
I’m calling this summer series “Garden 2.0: Summer Edition,” because each expert teacher will tackle a much-asked-about topic, from creating mowable, walkable wild lawns; to the reality of invasive jumping worms and how to cope; to expert lessons in cultivating a bird-filled, biodiversity-building landscape.
For nearly four years, my Virtual Garden Club operated only on a subscription model, where members purchased access to a whole semester of classes at a time. This spring I introduced a new format, which because of your positive response will continue in June-August.
I’ll once again host monthly 90-minute workshops you can buy individually (or sign up for all three at a 14 percent discount!). Attend your choice(s) live, or watch the recorded version for three months afterward, at your leisure.
Tickets for these standalone webinars are just $29, or $75 for the series, in hopes that they will be a bright spot.
CLICK OVER TO ORDER A TICKET NOW
The detailed lineup to choose from:
Thursday, June 26, 1-2:30 PM Eastern
An Introduction to Wild Lawns, with Eric Lee-Mäder
ARE YOU seeking a lawn replacement that can function like the lawn you have—be walkable (unlike a full-on meadow), and mowable—but that isn’t an ecological drain? A “wild lawn” might be the answer.
- Learn to convert your existing lawn to a wild one—or how to start from a blank slate
- Get ideas for the native grasses and small-scale wildflowers you can combine into your wild lawn
- Support beneficial insects and songbirds—while saving water and skipping the chemicals
At 40+ million acres in the United States, lawns constitute the single largest horticultural “crop” on the continent, a lot of it irrigated, fertilized, and composed of invasive Eurasian grasses. They sequester little carbon; do little to capture rainwater, and provide scant nutritional value to wild animals.
But lawns are also a kind of simple comfort that a lot of us need or want. They are habitat to our kids and pets, a defensible firebreak around our living spaces during dry summers. They signify intent and care in our communities.
This webinar highlights the potential and achievable alternative paradigm of wild lawns. Instead of manicured and uniform greens, wild lawns are irregular in texture and composition, low-growing but scattered with drifts of small wildflowers, built upon a matrix of native grasses that require neither supplemental water nor fertilizer.
Wild lawns can be fostered in situ—by converting existing lawns—or created from scratch. They can provide durable/walkable/mowable groundcover, while also supporting pollinators and songbirds. They are like a regular lawn, but lower maintenance and more full of life.
About Eric Lee-Mäder: Eric is co-owner of Northwest Meadowscapes, a native seed farm in Port Townsend, Wash., specializing in pollinator-friendly native flowers and grasses. He is the author of “The Milkweed Lands: An Epic Story of One Plant: Its Nature and Ecology,” and was lead author of several books from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. He was Xerces’s pollinator and agricultural biodiversity co-director, directing the non-profit’s private-sector initiatives across thousands of acres with companies like General Mills, Nestlé and Danone, undertaking pollinator habitat restoration on farms that supply them with ingredients.
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Thursday July 31, 1-2:30 PM Eastern
Jumping Worms: What We Know So Far, with Brad Herrick
JUMPING WORMS, or snake worms, have become the most asked-about pest in recent years, and no wonder: In forests and gardens, these invasive earthworms, now present in at least 38 states and several Canadian provinces, degrade the soil that plants and other organisms depend on.
Like all earthworms, jumping worms consume organic matter. But they do so very rapidly, quickly changing the soil structure and its nutrient and carbon content. This has cascading effects on plant health, on other organisms that live in the soil, and even impacts carbon that might have been in the soil that is released into the atmosphere through their burrowing activities.
This webinar explores what we know so far, and what can we do:
- Get an introduction to basic earthworm biology and ecology—and how these species are different
- Learn to ID them, and to diagnose an invasion
- Understand their impacts on your soil
- Learn whether to continue traditional soil-care regimens in their presence, such as mulching and adding compost
- Explore the latest research on potential control options
About Brad Herrick: Ecologist Brad Herrick of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum has been studying jumping worms since 2013, since they were discovered at the arboretum, where he was the longtime ecologist and research program manager. He is now Director of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve at UW, overseeing research, teaching, and outreach of the 300-acre campus natural area.
He lectures regularly on jumping worms’ impacts, and has been interviewed by such publications as “The Atlantic,” “The New York Times,” “Science News,” and “Vox.”
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Thursday August 21, 1-2:30 PM Eastern
Personal Habitat: Lessons from 30 Years of Wildlife Gardening, with Julie Zickefoose
‘GETTING RID of what should not be there and nurturing what should—that’s the plan,” says naturalist, author and artist Julie Zickefoose.
In 33 years of living on a parcel of Appalachian woodland and meadow in Ohio, Julie has done it all, battling invasive exotics, managing meadows, and turning her gardens into a bird and butterfly paradise through simple but creative enhancements that we can each distill to benefit our own properties. She has recorded an astonishing 198 species of birds and 77 butterfly species there.
Julie’s thoughtful stewardship has made all the difference, and she’ll share the changes she’s made to enhance her land and gardens for maximum diversity—and how to adapt them to your own space on whatever scale.
Julie feels that all life is an experiment, and gardening is one of the grandest experiments of all. In your own yard, you can take it as far as you wish:
- Experiment with more natives, including collecting their seeds and propagating your favorites
- Explore tactics for effective invasive-plant removal
- Update other garden-management practices for the maximum benefit of birds and beneficial insects
You’ll come away from Julie’s talk and the Q&A opportunity that follows feeling inspired, and full of ideas for your own space, no matter how small.
About Julie Zickefoose: Julie Zickefoose is a popular writer and artist for whom horticulture is an absorbing backdrop. She illustrates her own books, including “Saving Jemima,” “Baby Birds,” “The Bluebird Effect,” and “Natural Gardening for Birds.” She fights invasive plants, gardens, does a bit of songbird and bat rehab, and is advising editor for “BWD Magazine,” to which she’s contributed since 1986, when it was “Bird Watcher’s Digest.” She is currently writing about Carolina wrens, tiny geniuses.
