Cem Akin is on a mission to improve air quality and feed impoverished communities. His plan: Plant trees. Akin is the cofounder and “treeEO” of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, an international nonprofit organization that plants trees in countries ranging from Uganda, El Salvador, India and Mozambique to the United States. […]
When you have a question about landscaping in your geographical area, you might consult the Farmer’s Almanac for planting charts or frost dates, or look at the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map for plant hardiness. But there is another chart that could help you with your landscape decisions — the Köppen climate classification system. […]
Imagine that instead of flowing into the sewer system, water discharged by your bathtub, dishwasher, kitchen sink and washing machine was pumped instead into your landscape. The systems that perform this task are called greywater systems (also spelled graywater, grey water and gray water). They sound eco-friendly and resource-conserving, and they […]
In McAllen, a Texas city along the U.S. border with Mexico, the heat is on … and on and on and on. From 1979 to 2018, McAllen saw the average number of days per year with a heat index of at least 105 degrees shoot up by 21.9, according to […]
Those fortunate enough to live by a shoreline have inherited a special responsibility along with spectacular views: Your landscaping habits can either help your gorgeous waterway — or harm it. Summer has become algae outbreak season, with the thick scum coating the surface of lakes, rivers and ponds — and […]
If repeated rains have turned your lawn into patches of puddles or miniature wading pools, a rain garden could be the answer. Also called a bioretention area or stormwater garden, a rain garden is a landscaped area that catches and filters stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces such as driveways, parking lots […]
Natural fly repellents have had little evidence to back their claims. But now, scientists are looking at these folkloric concoctions to see which work.
Green living and sustainable plant-care grow more popular by the day. A beautiful, organic-certified, and is pest-free lawn is it possible! Anyone calling their lawn “organic” will need organic means to repel lawn pests. That means synthetic chemical pesticides are out, due to their negative effects on wildlife and water […]
Small creatures are struggling with a big issue: Birds, bees, butterflies, frogs and rabbits are among the wildlife facing homelessness, evicted from their environments as a result of habitat loss and degradation. Due to development, infrastructure and agriculture, millions of acres of wildlife habitat have been wiped out. More than […]
They’re b-a-a-c-k! The weeds. Being a good steward of your yard, you’re determined to get rid of them. Before you head to the garden center, do a little homework. You’ll find a bewildering lineup of herbicides at the store, but if you’ve learned what kind of grass and what kind […]