How many cities have a full-time artist on staff? Talk to Chris Seale and you’ll quickly learn that that’s how he sees his job as horticulturalist for the city of Waxahachie, Texas. Seale was hired two years ago to lead beautification efforts in this city of roughly 32,000 just south of the Dallas suburbs. “I love that […]
The Gardens at Kansas State University play a dual role in their community. Located on campus with no entry fees or gates to separate them from the public, they welcome visitors from the local community and beyond. Since the gardens were started in 1875, they have provided a living laboratory for horticulture students to practice plant identification, […]
It was a school field trip during his childhood in Southern California that introduced Brad Grimm to the majesty of the monarch butterfly. When his class took the half-hour trip to Natural Bridges State Beach, Grimm took in a view he wouldn’t soon forget. Natural Bridges, located in Santa Cruz, Calif., has become known to […]
Growing a vibrant arts community bears many similarities to the work of a gardener. Creativity must be tended like a seedling, nurtured and given an environment to thrive. This is the work that Mary Ouimette-Kinney and Larry Kinney have been doing for decades in their community in Buffalo, N.Y. It’s the mission that led them […]
As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, born and raised in Oklahoma, Tony Harris grew up absorbing Cherokee traditions from his family. Many of those traditions, like the traditional medicinal remedies his mother used, are tied to plants. When Harris, now a resident of Marietta, Ga., retired, he and his wife, Carra, became certified Master […]
For veterans receiving treatment at the McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Va., an 8-acre area of land on the center’s busy campus has been transformed into a growing arboretum. Here, patients, caregivers and members of the community can take a peaceful stroll, or even participate in a yoga class or other therapeutic activity to […]
In early American cities, burials typically happened on urban plots of land controlled by churches. But as the decades wore on and those plots filled up, the question of where to continue burials posed problems for city planners and for those concerned about public health. One solution was the rural cemetery movement that began in […]
“Plants aren’t complicated, and gardening should be fun,” says Allan Armitage. Deciphering the pronunciation of a name like Centaurea cyanus probably isn’t the most welcoming way for a newbie to enter the world of plants. But telling a story about how this common roadside weed with fuzzy blue blossoms came to be known as “Bachelor’s […]
For many suburban homeowners, working in the yard is a chore, a dreaded weekend drudgery done solely to stay in the good graces of the HOA and the next-door neighbors. Lowrie Glasgow is not a typical suburban homeowner. In the 12 years since he moved to his half-acre suburban lot in Greenville, S.C., he’s changed just about […]
From a weekly egg delivery service within its neighborhood to a soon-to-be-launched pancake food truck, Kettle Ridge Farm exemplifies the enterprise and creativity today’s small farmers must bring to their job. Kettle Ridge encompasses 70 acres spread out across areas around Rochester, N.Y. Owners Joe Hurley and his son, Chris, produce maple syrup, honey […]