It is Memorial Weekend and I am on the computer. What, it was raining in MIchigan. Bound and determined to make some sense of Linkedin to promote my blog, I surfed around. I stumbled on the Ecological Landscaping Association. Guessing that this group would have subjects of interest to me, I scrolled through and found Nick Federoff, Things Green. Nick is a syndicated Radio/TV talk show host in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
In the spirit of Memorial Weekend, Nick's topic of discussion was "lot of lawn...lots of mowers. Choose the best one for the job. The TV segment was informative, I learned a lot about different types of lawns.
I sent Nick a comment that I would be interested in stating my case against lawns. His response: he was up for the challenge.
Others commented and my first real conversation on Linkedin began.
Nick responded: he is always up to being educated - Challenge away.
I argued lawns are water guzzlers and in the area of Los Angeles CA, where water is so precious, why not sustain less lawns and more natives. I was thrilled, because I now could talk about native plants. Others agreed that the LA area is dessert area, lawns in the dessert! How absurd. How much water is wasted on that!
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| California Poppy |
Nick brought up that "natives are nice, but, most are ugly and can't live in an urban environment". "There are so many other plants that are fire resistant." Visions of the fires seen on TV of the Los Angeles area where houses and plants are destroyed popped into my head.... Fire resistant natives were in the Los Angeles area, long before any 'other plants' from other parts of the world arrived. Many western natives need fire to germinate. They are not only fire resistant, they need fire to survive. I researched California Native Plants. There are lots to choose from and use in an urban environment, many of the plants that are fire resistant are beautiful enough for any garden.
The conversation then discussed the loss of beneficial insects. Nick stated that he didn't think that the fewer numbers of certain insects, like bees, are found in fewer numbers because of the lack of natives, but instead, parasites that use the bees as host insects.... and of course improper pesticide use.... Well, at this point others linked in. (Remember this is an on going conversation over a weeks time.)
Cameron Donaldson, Executive Director at Florida Association of Native Nurseries, FANN responded.
"Nick must be on a different planet." Here on earth:
- http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/insects7.html.
- http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/lists/insects.htm
Thank you Cammie!
Realizing that there are concerned people all over the country, who are just as interested in stats on the declining numbers of birds and insects and also agree that there is too much focus on the lawn as I do, Linkein has become my favorite tool.
As for Nick Federof... he asked for a challenge. I accept.
I challenge you all to share your thoughts with Nick at Thingsgreen.com. I double challenge you to share your comments with me. The Comment box is right below :).
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