Plants are social creatures. Image by Mark Baldwin Here's an interview I did with Margaret Roach for The New York Times about putting plants together. I love Margaret's concept of reading a plant's "body language." Such a simple translation of my jargon. Why we need amazing communicators like her.   Understanding What Makes Plants Happy Thomas Rainer’s work is a revelation: It turns out that plans are social, and have a body language that explains what they need. By MARGARET ROACH Thomas Rainer and I have both been doing the botanical thing for decades; we know, and use, many of the same ..read more

California’s wildflower superbloom is so massive, it can be seen from space.  Antelope Valley Wildflower Preserve photo by junaidrao photo by Beau Rogers photo by Doug Greenberg photo by Rob Bertholf After four years of drought, southern California received a desperately needed ten inches of rain this winter. The dry landscape soaked up this rain, waited, then exploded with color. The Carrizo plain, described as the epi-center of this event, burst with lupine, poppies, fiddleneck, and baby blue eyes. Subtle shifts in topography created clear delineations in color, so painterly, so ..read more

A new approach to ecological horticulture The big shift I see in horticulture over the next decade is a shift from thinking about plants as individual objects to thinking about plants as social networks--that is, communities of compatible species interwoven in dense mosaics. The advantages of this approach are huge (particularly with green infrastructure), but the challenge is that it is hard to do. Part of the difficulty comes in not understanding how to layer plants one on top of each other; it's very different than traditional horticulture. Traditional horticulture is ..read more

www.pacifichorticulture.com, produced by www.bethladove.com "Wildness matters more now than it ever has. We’re urbanizing at a pace unprecedented in human history… We have to look at the landscapes we live in as places where nature could be.” – Thomas Rainer I had the pleasure of attending the Pacific Horticulture's annual conference this past October. It was one of the most progressive, forward-looking groups of horticulturists I've ever been around. Bob Hyland, Michelle Sullivan of Mia Lehrer, and Timber Press' preeminent editor Tom Fischer all contributed to an elevated dialogue. And the au ..read more

Not treating plants as dynamic systems is the culprit. MUnicipalities need to turn to experts in plant community design. For the past few years, I have been focused on the development of high performance vegetative systems. These systems are critical to the future of our planet, because as we urbanize, we need resilient plant systems to cover our roofs, clean our stormwater, sequester carbon, feed pollinators, and delight humans. The benefits are enormous, yet the fact is, getting the planting right is incredibly complicated.  Many residents see early generation of green infrastruct ..read more