Re: ideas for a newspaper article
I was reared in the East Bay and read for many years the garden sections
of various Bay Area publications. I have rarely articles encouraging
gardeners to plant flora native to the region ... so that's one idea.
You could highlight the benefits of planting native shrubs such as bush
lupines, monkey flowers, manzanita and salvias, plus note some of the
easy-to-grow wildflowers.
Some other ideas:
• Visiting wildflower meadows for inspiration to create your own meadow.
Give pointers on site preparation and the lessons nature teaches in
creating wildflower colonies. It might not be too late to plant a meadow
now, but the fall is a better time.
• On a similar theme: Using wildflowers or perennials to beautify a
neighborhood eyesore, such as a vacant lot or weedy island in a parking
lot.
• Spotlight gardens with unusual collections of certain species. Why
does the gardener love this species?
• Profile a gardener with an unusual aesthetic sense (colorless/green
garden, moon garden, Xeriscape, etc.)
• Creating a memorial garden, or adding a memorial element to a garden.
Profile someone who has done this.
• Converting a lawn to anything else: using native or Western native
grasses, thyme, creeping plants, etc., to break free of lawn care
slavery.
• Firewise landscaping.
• Keeping a garden journal. What are the benefits? What is important to
record?
• Involving children in gardening. What activities are appropriate/safe
for young children? How can parents inspire children in the garden?
Profile schools with gardens. How do they use a garden as a place for
learning?
• Heritage trees or heritage gardens of the East Bay. Where are the
oldest specimens of trees and shrubs that are perhaps protected from
removal? What are the municipal policies regarding removal of important
old plants? What do you do if you think an important plant will be
removed from your neighborhood?
• Talk to contractors about their considerations (if any) to
save/protect certain plants when developing an undeveloped property. Why
are trees removed? What guidelines do they follow? There may be some
lessons for property owners who don't carefully oversee site
preparation.
• A roundup of East Bay garden clubs. Good places to network, get info.
• Lesser-known nurseries. Many plant buyers don't know about some of the
wholesale nurseries (check out the Sunol area). These are good places to
buy the best specimens before they are mangled by the crush of
customers in retail nurseries. Wholesalers may not be as
customer-friendly as retailers, so it helps to know exactly what you
want and not ask a lot of questions.
• Also, there seem to be more and more mom and pop nurseries that
specialize in certain plants or don't sell in a high volume. Profiling
small-scale nursery folks would be interesting. Is it profitable, or a
labor of love? How do they develop a market niche?
• Profile a garden that has been maintained by several generations of a
single family. There might be some great stories about what the garden
once looked like, versus today, and how the garden has served several
generations.
Hope this helps Sean and other garden writers on the list. -ph
