Tuesday, March 20, 2012

National Arboretum Planning Turf Exhibit

Many eco-friendly gardeners think that turf grass is a bad thing. The truth, of course, isn’t that the GRASS is bad. What can be bad, and detrimental to the environment, are the actions that people take to keep their turf grass green, manicured and healthy looking.

People often over-water their lawns and apply dangerous chemicals to help keep the grass green. They can also pollute the environment by over mowing and trimming.

So I think it is great that the National Arboretum is planning an exhibit to teach people about the benefits of turf grass, along with proper maintenance techniques.

The theme of the exhibit is: New developments in turfgrass-making and environmental choice for our homes and communities and will be arranged in three sub-themes:

Turf and the Environment - Proper maintenance practices, pest/weed control, seasonal issues, water quality, erosion control benefits, research

Turf in the Landscape - Why turf? Grass species, soils, landscape &turf cooling/other benefits, ecosystem services, home values

Turf in the Community - Urbanization, recreation needs, functionality, safety/human health/obesity issues, value of turf industry/jobs

The National Arboretum is currently raising money for the conceptual design phase. The goal is to install the exhibit for an opening by spring 2013. Plans are to continue the exhibit through 2016 or 2017.
For more information, here is a pdf file of the proposal.

Spring has Sprung! Along with the Native Plant Sales

The calendar has finally caught up with the weather and Spring has now OFFICIALLY sprung. If you are like me and always try to keep a personal calendar listing gardening events that will help you spruce up your green garden, here is a list of upcoming native plant sales planned for the area.

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