AS MANY TIMES AS I HAVE SEEN THEM, I’m always startled when the Korean fir, Abies koreana, puts out a fresh crop of purple “pine” cones each year at this time. They’re a favorite of wildlife (and the gardener) here; read the full profile of this great conifer, or browse through all my conifer stories anytime.
WHEN I TALKED to Doug Tallamy in February around the publication date of his latest book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” I didn’t want to go on and on about the advice in it regarding smart fall cleanup, which is one of the ways I know I’ve dramatically shifted the way I manage my own garden compared to 10 or even five years ago. But we were looking ahead to spring then, not fall.
I’m grateful that Doug returned to the podcast in autumn to do just that. Want to plan your most ecologically minded garden cleanup ever, and understand the consequences of each potential action you can take—including next spring?
The subtitle of University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy’s recent book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” is “A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.” Meaning: The choices we make all year-round, including the very important one of how we clean up, can help counteract an overdeveloped, fragmented landscape that puts the food web to the test. You and I are nature’s best hope, and I’m glad Doug joined me again to help us learn to support it.
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Those are really pretty. I don’t think I’ve seen them before.
Margaret I posted a question in the q&a forum on Cryptomeria japonica ‘Sekkan Sugi’ but have had no feedback. I hope you don’t mind me asking here if you or anyone has any info on this one, I saw one in a nursery and it screamed gold, take me home. But before I do I was trying to get clarification on the mature size. The tag said 10′ x 5-6′ but online it says it is much taller. Also right now it looks somewhat open branched and weeping in form. Pictures on line show it as more solid.
I don’t know, Terry, as I believe they are a bit tender for me. But…I often put my trust in the info from Great Plant Picks out in Seattle (allowing for the difference of climate, of course). They say it gets to that size in the first 10 years, twice that high and wide or more in its lifetime. Often the tags put the 10-year results which I think it stupid, of course (which is why my paths are overrun by one shrub or tree here and there and everywhere).
Thanks for answering Margaret. I have to give this a bit more thought before buying it. By the way I was at Claire’s nursery in Patterson/Pawling this afternoon and I hear you have been there too. It was my first visit, what a nice nursery. Lots of interesting things.
My friend has one pruned to an interesting shape. I love it and have always wanted one.