Gardening and our growing notion of ‘green’
Some environmental answers in tree canopy, wildlife and foods we grow ourselves
Come with me — let’s go for a walk.
Regular readers know that my column is not just about gardening. Or the environment. Or urban trees (though, some weeks you might wonder) and it is not even about how our society is wrapped up in all of them. My column is a reflection of my personal interest in all of the above.
Most of all, this column is about the changing face of “green.” Ever since I sold my retail business, Weall and Cullen Nurseries, to Sheridan Nurseries 11 years ago, I have enjoyed the luxury of probing for answers about: Why Canadians garden? Why don’t we garden more? How is the activity of gardening changing?
How is our interest in plants and green space woven into societal norms and how, precisely, are they changing?
I have learned a lot from people who are immersed in the green industry. It is a big, broad, fast-changing world of green out there. A review of this past year of my columns reveals some interesting nuggets. Urban trees: After the landmark ice storm late last December, the Toronto tree canopy was at serious risk. Estimates in early January ran as high as a 30-per-cent loss. Later statistics would reveal that our trees were not as damaged as many thought, but the loss was still significant. As with any calamity, the damage focused attention on our urban trees and their value.
I covered the canopy loss with a in-depth series of columns and last February wrote about a radical idea hatched by Tyler Brandt, a university student who earned top honours in the Sustainable Design Awards. His award-winning idea was to turn the vast hydro corridors of Toronto into reforested areas and tree nurseries.
“I think the greatest benefit of this idea is its radical scale and blunt challenge to existing norms,” Tyler said with enthusiasm.
“It raises issues often not thought about, like the idea of access to trees being important for residents of a city. It also puts forward the idea of returning the forest and wilderness to our cities in some capacity.” Details at sustainabledesignawards.ca. Election questions: Last July, I posed some important election questions. I asked that you ask municipal candidates about the future of the Toronto tree canopy. There is, after all, a thoroughly researched plan at the City of Toronto to double the tree canopy — it was signed and voted in favour two councils ago, pre-2010. All we really needed was to find a mayor and a majority of councillors to dust it off and support it. Actively. Thanks to voters in the 416, we seem to have just that. Wish granted.
In October, I wrote a column titled, “In Lieu of Flowers.” I made the suggestion that, in the event that I someday kick the bucket, I wish for people to vote and give blood. Both are free to do and have profound meaning, in the scheme of things. The thought was to tie the July column together with this one, a few days before our municipal election. (Am I the only on who feels a sense of relief with our new mayor and council?).
I like to think that my column was timely and helpful as I received some encouraging messages from supportive readers and a record number of eligible voters showed up at the polling stations. Good things we love to hate: Also in October, I wrote about snakes, toads, bacteria, bats and wasps. I defended them well, I think, as not one person challenged me on it. (Or maybe no one read it)
This column was an extension of another that I wrote in August about building my own insect hotel. I advanced the idea that you should consider doing the same, as the vast majority of insects in our yards and gardens are of the beneficial kind. They need a place to sleep and breed, just as we do.
Not only that, but all insects play a role in the biodiversity that makes up a healthy ecosystem. Even mosquitoes play a role.
All four of my siblings laughed themselves silly when I showed them a picture of my new yard-art-with-ameaning. I live in hope that someday they will see the light and build their own insect hotels. Wildlife: Speaking of wildlife in the backyard, this past September I introduced readers to a Backyard Certification Program sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Federation. Think of this as a Community Watch program for bugs, birds, butterflies and other wildlife. If you grow plants that are native, feed the birds and provide protection for wildlife in your yard, you can apply for (and likely achieve) your own Backyard Habitat Certificate. I encourage you to look into it at www.cwf-fcf.org/en. What a great New Year’s resolution. Garden for food: Late this past spring I wrote a three-part series on the rising interest of growing food here in the city. Put another way, there are a lot of people who have not necessarily grown much of anything before who are now engaged in growing food-producing plants.
We can thank the youth in our culture for attracting renewed attention to the benefits of growing veggies, fruits and herbs in our own gardens. For that matter, we can thank many immigrant families who have taken up a trowel and planted many fruits and vegetables that are new to this part of the world.
As you read this, many community garden groups are planning their holiday New Year’s dinner around preserved food that they harvested from their own collective efforts in a local community garden right here in the city.
I think that this is marvellous. The changes afoot in the green community are astonishing.
In the coming year, I’ll explore themes that wrap the gardening message with new and exciting green initiatives associated with the quality city we wish to build for the future.
I hope you continue to walk with me through 2015. Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster and garden editor of Reno and Decor magazine. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.