Forest management efforts in Connecticut paying off as American chestnut tree makes a comeback | The Republic

via Ct Environmental Headlines

• Scientists have been working on restoration since the 1930s, and in the last several years, American chestnut specialist Sandy Anagnostakis has been breeding blight-resistant trees by crossing the American species with its Chinese cousin, which carries a resistant gene.

   

  Some 200 of those blight-resistant seedlings were planted on 2.5 acres at Belding in 2009, and while mortality is eventually expected to reach 50 percent due to die-off from natural competition, Seymour said the vast majority of the trees are thriving.

• Eventually, the native trees will reach maturity and begin cross-pollinating with the newly planted blight-resistant strain, creating seedlings genetically similar to trees native to the site that also carry genes resistant to blight.

The Age of Man Is Not a Disaster – NYTimes.com

• Yes, we live in the Anthropocene — but that does not mean we inhabit an ecological hell. Our management and care of natural places and the millions of other species with which we share the planet could and should be improved.

Preserving Singapore’s ‘Green Spine’ – Southeast Asia Real Time – WSJ

• …away from the crowds and noise is an unexpected sanctuary: a 26-kilometer, century-old defunct railway connecting Singapore to Malaysia, which environmental groups dream of turning into Singapore’s own version of New York’s High Line, the former elevated rail line that was converted into a trendy urban nature walk through Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and Chelsea neighborhoods.

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  Singapore is positioning to be “A city in the Garden”. Julia and I were there briefly, years ago, moving quickly in the blazing heat in search of shadows at midday. The Japanese and Chinese Gardens in the city center are memorable as are the traveller’s palms, sentries in front of the old Raffles Hotel. 

Piet Oudolf Where Ecology Meets Design | Ecology Global Network

by Fran Sorin

• Over the last decade, Piet Oudolf has become a ‘superstar’  in the gardening world. But few people have knowledge of the man who creates magnificent works of art. I was compelled to set up an interview with him exactly for that reason. I wanted to better understand his process, priorities, vision, response to his completed designs….in other words, Piet’s ‘gestalt’.
• Piet might like this autumnal detail in the Brine Garden.

The Garden Conservancy’s Open Day at the Brine Garden | Garden Large

• The Garden Conservancy opens the gates of America‘s finest private gardens by inviting the public to visit. The Conservancy’s Open Days Program encourages appreciation of “gardens as living works of art.”

   

  © gardenlarge

  The Brine Garden – Duncan & Julia Brine

  2011 Open Day
  Saturday, October 8, from 12pm to 6pm, rain or shine
  Pawling, NY

nsf.gov – National Science Foundation (NSF) News – Are New England’s Iconic Maples at Risk? – US National Science Foundation (NSF)

• On city streets, the ALB invades many different types of hardwood trees.  But in forests, the beetle disproportionately attacks large maple trees.

Great Pollinator Project

• Without pollinators, most flowering plants could not reproduce. One-third of our food plants, from tomatoes and squash to apples and almonds, depend on the services of a pollinator. Bees are the most important pollinators in the northeastern U.S.—more than 225 bee species have been recorded in New York City alone.

The invasive species war – The Boston Globe

• When it comes to what we should actually do for the environment, the two sides of this debate might not be quite as far apart as their denunciations of one another might indicate. Just as most ecologists accept that only a fraction of non-native species are harmful, the anti-nativists, when pressed, will admit that unequivocally destructive species like the Asian longhorned beetle should be reined in., how we justify our interventions and how we label the species we want to eradicate.
• A Path through Phragmites in the Brine Garden.
• (Occasionally, making use of adversaries.)

Garden Rant: Native vs. invasive once again—it’s Tallamy’s turn

• I am not a purist and I don’t expect many other people will be either. I think taking the hard line and insisting on all natives will go a long way toward killing the movement.
  —Doug Tallamy, Garden Rant interview, 12/12/07

  Mild-mannered Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, is still smiling but he’s also a bit exasperated at the backlash he’s noticing against native plant advocacy, the latest example of which was found in a New York Times op-ed entitled Mother Nature’s Melting Pot.

   

   

• “Most people garden in a very small percentage of their yard and the rest is barren. Have your hobbies, grow what you want, but also put in some of the trees that used to be there to support the birds that you probably still do like. … I’d like to keep the discussion scientific and keep the emotion out of it. Just don’t tell me that these choices have no consequences and that any plant is as good as any other plant.”