Forest Pansy Redbud

By far the most requested plant was the red-leafed redbud. The plant's full name is Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' or Forest Pansy Redbud. It is the most available cultivar in the area so it can be purchased. It is a very fast grower that has put on a foot and a half of growth this year already! The color seems to hold better in full-sun (it washes out to green in our yard due to shade conditions). The blooms in the spring are plentiful and more of a purple-pink than the straight species.

Prairie plant list (along alley)

A listing of plants in the area of the prairie by the alley:

Nyssa sylvatica - Blackgum
Hammelis x intermedia 'Birgit' - Birgit Witch-hazel
Hammelis virginiana - Common Witch-hazel
Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur' - Winterthur Witherod Viburnum
Aster oblongifolius 'October Skies' - October Skies Aster
Elymus hystrix - Bottlebrush Grass
Swamp Milkweed – Asclepias incarnata
Desmanthus illinoensis - Illinois Bundleflower
Northern River Oats – Chasmanthium latifolium
Rudbeckia hirta - Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta angustifolia - Black-eyed Susan (red center)
Hemerocallis spp. - Daylily (Wisconsin orange variety)

Shade plant list (by patio)

A listing of new shade plants (mostly located at the back of the Jane house):

Polystichum acrostichoides - Christmas Fern (evergreen)
Rohdea japonica - Sacred Lily of Japan
Uvularia sessilifolia albomarginata - Variegated Little Merrybells
Epimedium perralchicum 'Frohnleiten' - Barrenwort
Asarum arifolium - Arrowhead Ginger

Car Lies

So here is one of the ways that we lie to ourselves about our driving habits: we don't think about how much each mile costs us. We calculate how many miles per gallon our cars get. We are concerned about the price of gasoline in dollars per gallon, but we don't think about the price per mile to drive everywhere we go.

We have a Honda CRV which sounds all nice and efficient, but the truth is our actual mpg in the city is 22. That's as good as 1980 mileage. So our cost per mile is roughly 25 cents/mile at current gas prices. So it adds up way too quickly.

sustainable outside

So how do you become sustainable outside? Well it goes back to basics: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Reduce is just to consume less. Less human input like fertilizing, gas mowing, and adding weed'n'feed. These things make our yards become addicted to our behavior rather than sustaining themselves. Some say the addiction is like putting our yards on Crack.

Reusing is finding new uses for the things you already have. It's like regifting to yourself. Our yard uses a poorly constructed sidewalk that's been broken to become a drylaid "stone" wall. It's been in place for six years now and doing great.

Recycle for me would include composting. We now take our household organic kitchen waste (peels, seeds, cores, skins) and add them to a compost pile. They in turn become soil for the yard. FREE SOIL!

Green TV

Ok, there is now a green cable channel. For those with Insight, it is channel 221, planet green. Most of the shows are building-based and deal with costly new solutions (i.e. solar panels, concrete countertops, new construction). So what can you do with the house you live in and what can be done outside?

LIVING sustainably

So what is Sustainable? The rote answer is behaving in ways that will not infringe on future generations. For me, it hits home now. That is, how do I pass along good life-practices to my children today? We can only expect the future to be better if we are willing to share what we know today. That is what led me to think back on what I inherited from my parents. It meant revisiting simple things like composting (we called it the compost pile) and a vegetable garden.

Back

Well, Verdant is back. So what's been going on? Well, there are now two rain barrels, less lawn, a three year old rain garden, grassed turfstone in the back yard, a compost pile, a prairie, a vegetable garden, new tree plantings (from seed) and mature plantings throughout. In the coming posts, I'll show the details of what has gone right and what lessons have been learned. I also hope to hit on other sustainable practices.