We need more plants, how do we do it?

[Ganoderma]

Under the assumption that more plants are good, how can the everyday joe add more plants to their situation?

 

i thinking going with the "keep it simple stupid" theme is a good one, cause not everyone wants to water and keep up plants, move, clean etc (ie good lazy plants).

 

so how about some suggestions for good plants for certain areas.

 

so how about some ideas of plants for certain places we can add?

 

i have found these species to do well on window sills in southern canada and warmer places.

cactus

Aloe sp.

African Violets

Ivy

Coleus

Bromeliads

Fatsia

Oxalis

Zebrina (Wandering Jew)

 

i find these do quite well with really low light (or high light if available). places like desks, kitchens, bedrooms etc that only receive distant window light and whatever light bulbs that are occasionally used. many species will do well if rotated from sunny to shady spots on a couple week basis.

 

money trees

Bromeliads (some)

Zebrina (Wandering Jew)

 

 

more later.

[interval]

First step is to protect what we have.

[belovelife]

a million trees

 

Well succulents and ivy's are easy to take care of.

I have a friend who does bonzai, those are a bit harder.

But all in all, a neighborhood of nice green lawns usually make for

a nice sight. Birds of paridise are hearty even in the dessert where i live,

but i hear they are hard to root. Now if you just want a nice look for a while,

you could try morning glory, (heavenly blue is my favorate).

Shekwasha is a nice little

bush. And it has a fruit that goes really well with drinks.

[Michaelangelica]

Get kids and schools involved

Get kids growing plants like Ice Cream Bean, Peanut Butter Plant, Miracle Fruit, Venus Fly Trap, Mimosa

anything that gets them going

 

See this pilot programme

Go for your life – Kitchen Garden Project with Stephanie Alexander

 

* What are the Go for your life Kitchen Garden Project Grants?

Go for your life - Kitchen Garden Project - Financial - School Management - Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

https://secure.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au/shop-and-donations.shtml

Victorian Association for Environmental Education

Gardening Australia - Fact Sheet: School Kitchen Garden

Gardening Australia - Video

Kitchen garden funding to go national - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Some of the multicultural gardens/cooking have been especially brilliant

Stephanie Alexander is one of the top ten chefs in Australia.

I know years ago she used to pay kids 10c per snail for her very famous Victorian Restaurant.

 

All schools should have an interdisciplinary science/biology/chemistry/history/ maths/ English-folklore-debating-Shakespeare ( a great gardener)/ecology/politics?/cooking/business studies/economics//agriculture/ethics, conservation self reliance etc Gardening Department(In fact-what else do you need?)

There are over 20 of these programs running in schools around Victoria and the plan is to have nearly 200 running in schools Australia-wide by 2012. It proves that there’s nothing better - from garden to the stomach

 

This should be adequately resourced with Nursery propagation and gardening space

A garden is just a place where people learn about plants.-MA

[belovelife]

Being in the north, do you have thimbleberries?

I used to have fields of these In the UP of michigan.

Up in that part of the nation there wasn't much problems with getting plants to grow.

Hows it where you live?

[Moontanman]

I figure I've done my carbon offset for my entire life, when I was 12 i planted a small forest of pine trees, i went back to see them a few years ago and they were all more than two feet thick and a hundred fifty feet tall. I don't know how many tons of carbon they have pulled out of the atmosphere but it has to be a lot, there are at least one hundred of them.

[Ganoderma]

that must make you feel young lol!

 

Get kids and schools involved

Get kids growing plants like Ice Cream Bean, Peanut Butter Plant, Miracle Fruit, Venus Fly Trap, Mimosa

anything that gets them going

 

that is easier said than done man.....i have tried at my school many times.....and "these kids today" (grandma quote) just don't find dirt and plants as interesting as they used to.....video games and tv seem to occupy their time :( got any suggestions. all these cool plants like sensitive mimosa, miracle fruit etc all grow here and they are used to it like north americans are used to pine trees or moss lol.

 

winter vacation again here, maybe its time to try another plant project with one of the classes :D

[Turtle]

Other than my veggie garden I have cut back on plants in recent years. I did however do a couple beds of wildflowers last year to draw in some bees & butterflies and to get rid of some grass yard and replace with natives that need little water.

 

I see a couple mentions of ivy here and I can only say that it is a very damaging invasive species when it escapes into woodlands. With so many other choices, I recommend just saying no to ivy. :D

 

Go for plants native to your area and spread the word to the neighbors that they take less water & care, save money by replacing lawn, attract wildlife, and help the environment in many ways. Give them as gifts. :(

[belovelife]

One thing, if you are planting many trees, be sure to leave room for the roots.

To allow for maximum potential growth. Also try to get the sprouts from multiple sources.

We have had issues in recent years because of the lack of diversity in forests. Basically the forests

have been getting clear cut, then planted with all the same trees. We, need to add diversity.

Although just planting trees is really good, don't get me wrong. But taking these 2 varyables into account will make our forests much healthier in the future.

[Turtle]

One thing, if you are planting many trees, be sure to leave room for the roots.

To allow for maximum potential growth. Also try to get the sprouts from multiple sources.

...

 

Good points. :shrug: Besides gathering shoots for rooting, another workable method of reproducing native plants is in gathering their seeds. :shrug: :confused:

[belovelife]

Have you ever thought of planting parks with fruit and nut trees. This would have diversity, and provide food. In big cities with homless people, the food would be gathered before it went bad. And the only drawback would be watering them. Although we water trees that donot produce food already. I know in Eugene, Or there is a park with trees, and all the houses that surround the park have either apple or pear trees. But I only remmeber on fruit tree in the actual park.

[Turtle]

Have you ever thought of planting parks with fruit and nut trees. This would have diversity, and provide food. In big cities with homless people, the food would be gathered before it went bad. And the only drawback would be watering them. Although we water trees that donot produce food already. I know in Eugene, Or there is a park with trees, and all the houses that surround the park have either apple or pear trees. But I only remmeber on fruit tree in the actual park.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if some of those Eugene parks were once orchards, but you would have to check local historical sources for specifics. The Willamette Valley after all was a main destination for pioneers heading West on the Oregon Trail. :confused: Eugene Oregon History

 

The gathering of the fruit is a good idea, and referred to as "gleening". Some communities organize volunteers to identify fruit trees in peoples' yards and in the parks, and then to go out & pick it when it's ripe for their own use as well as distribution to food charities. Here is a US Government page on the topic: >> Food Recovery and Gleaning Initiative/Contents page

 

An advantage to planting "native" plants is that they don't require watering once established as they are already acclimated to the local conditions. :shrug: :shrug:

[belovelife]

I know in SoCal, even though it is a dessert, peach trees grow well w/o watering (although they produce more fruit w/watering). Our native foods include (but not limited to)

nopales, and its correlating fruit (pricly pear) and the entire palnt is edible.

Then we have yucca where the root and the flowers are edible, and the leaves have many uses.

Then there is fennel but it only grows by rivers.

Then there is a multitude of grains and berries that grow here indigenously, but I can't remember the names. But almost all these are suited for dessert areas, save the fennel.

[Ganoderma]

great points!

 

turtle, my mention of Ivy was intended for indoor use, i totally agree how bad it can be. actually all the plants i mentioned were aimed at around the house ornamental.

 

and really good points on native species...ideally thats the way to go, but not always the easiest (and people do like easy)

 

here is a picture of one of many large douglas fir trees at my grandmothers house in BC canada. the ivy there are about 9" in diameter and go 100+ feet up. its also about 60 years old (the ivy, not the doug. firs). i used to climb up it as a kid. about 30 trees in total like this, but over the years they have been getting people to kill it.

 

[Turtle]

great points!

 

turtle, my mention of Ivy was intended for indoor use, i totally agree how bad it can be. actually all the plants i mentioned were aimed at around the house ornamental.

 

and really good points on native species...ideally thats the way to go, but not always the easiest (and people do like easy)

 

here is a picture of one of many large douglas fir trees at my grandmothers house in BC canada. the ivy there are about 9" in diameter and go 100+ feet up. its also about 60 years old (the ivy, not the doug. firs). i used to climb up it as a kid. about 30 trees in total like this, but over the years they have been getting people to kill it.

 

Yes; kill the ivy!! Kill it all!!! :shrug: No really; do kill it as it's shortening the life of those trees and limiting the normal creatures & plants that inhabit Doug Firs & their environs. Over in the Horticultural thread I start a discussion of my own learning & battle with this destructive & invasive plant. I skip on & off of the ivy , but it starts with this post. First step though is to saw through those vines at belly level which will kill everything above the cut. It will take months to show signs of dying, but it receives no nourishment or water from the clinging root-like structures that hold it to the tree. While that's dying, dig up all the roots and dispose of them at a wood recyclers.

 

If I were not so averse to acquiring material goods, including plants, I might have an inclination to start raising native plants en masse for some manner of distribution. I at one time was caring for over 150 bonsai, many of which I collected in the wild, but it was too much work & I either set them free in the forest or gave them over to adoptive families. Damned if I don't & damned if I do. :D :hihi:

[Michaelangelica]

 

that is easier said than done man.....i have tried at my school many times.....and "these kids today" (grandma quote) just don't find dirt and plants as interesting as they used to.

winter vacation again here, maybe its time to try another plant project with one of the classes :singer:

I have done some courses with young kids. They seem to divide into two groups the engineers and the plant people.

With the engineers you give them a hose lots of water, tools and set them lose to make the Aswan Dam in the middle of your garden. The other kids like plants with stories or that you can eat or do something with. That might involve tricking another kid into eating a"mild" chilli. ("Bi-Bell" chillies are hot at one end only)

 

I was lucky having a good teacher who knew all the kids so could handle discipline; that left me to play with the kids. I don't think it would have worked near as well without that.

It is not what you teach but how you teach that is important.

 

There are plants that smell of chocolate chewing gum, lemons, nutmeg etc. Even medicinal plants like Aloe vera can be given an interesting spin. I usually invent something about red Indians cowboys and curing arrow and gunshot wounds.

Miracle fruit is amazing for everyone if you can get it to grow.

 

Eventually my kid's Mums'/Parents', who came to collect them (in the 4WD) bought a large piece of plastic, wrapped their child and took them home to hose them down.

The more chaos the better, I thought. When all else fails you hit petty cash for ice-blocks

The end always justifies the means

I am told by Mums I meet occasionally that I have corrupted a few kids, who have their own patch of dirt at home, so that makes me feel good. The parents seem pleased, and often amazed, too.

 

The group of amazed Japanese school headmasters who happened to visit the school, and had the embarrassed Oz headmaster explain to them that this was "gardening", probably still dine out on the strange people from down under.:singer:

 

i suspect with older kids a bit of rebellion, clandestine gorilla gardening and bucking authority MAY be away of going.

I may get a chance to try out that theory soon, and mean to check out how to make 'plant seed bombs' on the net.

[Ganoderma]

that is great michael, really good!

 

i am growing pumpkins now as there are no pumpkins here and it will add some fun for halloween..maybe give them to the teens so they can go have some pumpkins with their fireworks......i hear ya on the rebellion. but often times it can work as an advantage, cause when ya play into their ego, they think they are cool doing something, and they get more interested, sometimes.

 

"engineers and the plant people"

 

i like that. but there seems to be a third group the ones that just sit there and absolutely will not look touch or even talk about it lol.....thumb with their cellphones and wait til they can leave and play computer...hehe.

 

reminds me of a time we took about 5 students to the river, 3 of their parents got so pissed off at us because its too dangerous. not form drowning or snakes or anything, but because there are too many ghost that live by the river.....sometimes i just dont know what to say, but its a strong belief system here that more often than not seems to specifically gear away from nature :)

 

 

edit about the planting trees in your yard. for anyone with a septic field in their yard, think about the roots! i planted some maples trees in my parents house (mothers day gift when i was a teen). about 8 years later they had to dig up the whole damn yard and take the roots out of the hols in the tanks, which seeped into the yard (sorry mom)...there was many thousands of $. so think about what you plant where if you have that lol.