This fall, red maple matched Japanese maple for colour

Posted on November 12, 2018 by admin

The red maples were a match for the Japanese maples in Halifax on Oct 30, 2018

Red maples left, Japanese maples right, Halifax, Oct 30, 2018


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Surette on bottled water and lawn chemicals

Posted on October 27, 2018 by admin

In “Let’s stop being such environmental dunces” (Chronicle Herald, Oct 2, 2018), columnist Ralph Surette cited bottled water and our use of lawn chemicals as prime examples of “low-hanging toxic fruit that is environmentally, economically and logically idiotic — and that must be picked if we are going to make sense of anything.”
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Last days of Common Roots at the QE site

Posted on September 29, 2018 by admin

Common Roots Urban Farm in Halifax on Sep 29, 2018
(Click on image for larger version)

2018 was the 7th season for the Common Roots Urban Farm which was “set up as a pilot project at Robie Street and Bell Road in 2012”. However, it’s their last season at that site, and we haven’t heard yet where it will be next year, just that it will be somewhere. I am guessing it will be one the old St. Pats Highschool site on Quinpool, only a few hundred meters away. At least that would be a good site for it with lots of sun.

It’s been a wonderful community resource and taught us all a lot, individually and as a community. Kudos to Jamie Melrose & Co.
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A short walk

Posted on September 28, 2018 by admin

Steep banks (above) are difficult to maintain in grass and can be hazardous to mow. One simple alternative we viewed on our walk: hostas (below). They are robust, requiring little care once established, and hold the soil together well; with time they will make an attractive full cover of the bank.


As a first test of an approach we may pursue, we took a couple of hours with a camera in hand to walk a neighbourhood and to talk to people about their landscapes.

Then we put together a short video from some of footage on the theme of alternatives to intensive lawncare.

We’re learning!

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What we’re up to…

Posted on September 10, 2018 by admin

Joe-Pye weed in full bloom in a sidewalk setting in Halifax, Sep 10, 2018. The species is native to NS, “forming colonies along streams, banks, meadows and swamps” – Source: Nova Scotia Plants)

This website is being developed by two Nova Scotians, one an economist and the other an ecologist, to highlight examples of urban landscapes that we see as ecologically desirable or at least pointed in that direction.

Initially those examples will be somewhat Halifax-centric, reflecting our own urban settings.

It’s very much a learning process for us. We are using the site to help us develop our concepts and to organize related information.

Hopefully at some point, this website/blog will be of interest to others. When we think it’s getting there, we will put our names “out there”. Regardless, it is not about us, but about sharing and promoting ways we can live more in harmony with the natural world.

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