Saturday Tweets: Squirrels and Other Stuff

...anuary 11, 2017 Plants need a social network. Traditional landscaping puts plants in solitary confinement. In this setting, plant lose resiliency #txplants pic.twitter.com/PLK44HpUUh — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) January 11, 2017 Could you make zero trash for 30 days? https://t.co/AeLJT0Bj7M — Root Simple (@rootsimple) January 10, 2017 Add Pockets to Any Skirt or Dress Without Ruining the Look https://t.co/sOM8klCneq via @lifehacker — Root Sim...

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Trees Susceptible to the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

...lonica) 29. Chinese holly (Ilex cornuta) 30. Camelia (Camellia semiserrata) 31. Acacia (Acacia spp.) 32. Liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua) 33. Red Flowering Gum (Eucalyptus ficifolia) 34. Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) 35. Goodding’s black willow (Salix gooddingii)* 36. Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) 37. Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus) 38. Black mission fig (Ficus carica) 39. Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) 40. Dense logwood (...

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074 Beyond the War on Invasive Species with Tao Orion

Is there something wrong with the “war” on invasive plants? What are these resilient plants trying to tell us? Is there such a thing as a “natural” landscape? What’s wrong with Glyphosate? These are some of the topics we discuss in our conversation with Tao Orion, author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration. Tao is a permaculture designer, teacher, homesteader, and mother living in the southern W...

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A happy tangle

...hope for survival–and yet I’ve learned to respect the choices of volunteer plants, as Fukuoko-san advised. Sure enough, the sunflower knew what it was doing. It concentrated all its resources into an epic twelve foot growth spurt, straight up, like a bamboo stalk. Only once it crested the top of the pomegranate and found the sun did it begin to spread its arms, and I swear that when it did, I could hear a sigh of relief. Now this monster sunflower...

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Build a vegetable prison to keep out raccoons and skunks

...Down to protect small seedlings: And up to act as a trellis and allow tall plants to grow out the top: I’ve noticed that once plants get established and past the 2-foot point I don’t usually have to worry about those midnight raccoon parties. Obviously, if I had to deal with deer I’d have to build a bigger cage. I can also cover the whole thing in floating row cover material if I want to keep out cabbage leaf caterpillars. If you’re a Sketchup use...

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