Nature Archives - A Way To Garden https://awaytogarden.com/category/nature/ 'horticultural how-to and woo-woo' with margaret roach, head gardener Sun, 06 Jul 2025 14:53:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 9651199 the genius of crows and ravens, with dr. john marzluff https://awaytogarden.com/the-genius-of-crow-and-ravens-with-dr-john-marzluff/ https://awaytogarden.com/the-genius-of-crow-and-ravens-with-dr-john-marzluff/#comments Fri, 04 Jul 2025 19:38:39 +0000 https://awaytogarden.com/?p=57184 A COUPLE OF RAVENS have been shouting at each other across the garden each day this spring-into-summer, and their loud-mouthed antics reminded me of a somewhat less bawdy conversation about crows and ravens that I had a decade ago on the podcast with ornithologist Dr. John Marzluff—a conversation I want to reprise. Possessing large brains for their body size, a knack for social networking that requires no internet connection, and keen powers of observation, crows and ravens are among the big personalities of the bird word. They are also what Dr. Marzluff calls, “black-feathered practitioners of lifelong learning,” and from him I learned about the capacity of their avian brains and the range of things it allows them to do–from the funny to the daring, much of it almost unbelievable. Dr. Marzluff is a renowned ornithologist and urban ecologist, and professor emeritus of wildlife sciences at the University of Washington. He is author a number of books, including ones about his area of particular expertise, the corvids—crows, ravens, jays and their relatives.  Around the time that we recorded this conversation, I had just read the book he created in collaboration with illustrator Tony Angell called “Gifts of the Crow: How […]

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]]> https://awaytogarden.com/the-genius-of-crow-and-ravens-with-dr-john-marzluff/feed/ 299 57184 beeches under pressure, with bartlett’s beth brantley https://awaytogarden.com/beeches-under-pressure-with-bartletts-beth-brantley/ https://awaytogarden.com/beeches-under-pressure-with-bartletts-beth-brantley/#comments Sat, 28 Jun 2025 13:53:09 +0000 https://awaytogarden.com/?p=57162 A BIG OLD copper beech tree is a focal point of my garden, and each time I look out the window at it admiringly these days, I feel the same love and gratitude I always have for its grandeur, but also a deepening twinge of worry. These are increasingly tough times for beeches, both European ones like my copper beech, and on a far bigger environmental scale, the precious native beech trees of our Eastern North American forests. I’m joined for this podcast by Beth Brantley of Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories, who’s speaking July 18 on the future of beeches at the annual in-person and virtual Woody Plant Conference at Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College. Beth, whose doctorate is in plant pathology, is the Northeast Research Scientist with Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories, providing support to Bartlett Tree Experts’ regional offices; conducting arbor culture research; and sharing her knowledge through teaching and presentations. Beech leaf disease, one of the newer challenges facing beech trees today, is a particular interest of Beth’s, and she told me more about that and other pest and pathogen pressures facing these important trees. (Above, striping from beech leaf disease evident in beech leaves; photo from Bartlett […]

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]]> https://awaytogarden.com/beeches-under-pressure-with-bartletts-beth-brantley/feed/ 14 57162 designing for ‘abundance,’ with ecological landscaper kelly norris https://awaytogarden.com/designing-for-abundance-with-ecological-landscaper-kelly-norris/ https://awaytogarden.com/designing-for-abundance-with-ecological-landscaper-kelly-norris/#comments Sat, 07 Jun 2025 13:16:47 +0000 https://awaytogarden.com/?p=57079 WE MAY KNOW ONE when we see it, but what word best describes an ecological landscape? Compared to traditional, more formal gardens, such native-plant-forward designs are variously labeled as looser, or naturalistic, or wildish—all perfectly accurate. Is there perhaps a word, though, that really gets at both the visual and functional aspects that these beautiful, biodiversity-supporting plantings embody – a word that can help us set the intention for the plants we choose and where we place them? “Abundant” is the descriptor of choice and a primary design goal for today’s guest, landscape designer Kelly Norris, author most recently of the book “Your Natural Garden” (affiliate link). Kelly, the former director of horticulture and education at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden for eight years, is the founder of The Public Horticulture Company, a Des Moines-based ecological landscape firm. His motto is “just keep planting,” which indeed adds up to abundance … if we follow some general guidelines on what key players we make room for. Plus: Comment in the box near the bottom of the page for a chance to win a copy of Kelly’s book “Your Natural Garden.” Read along as you listen to the June 9, 2025 […]

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