- Grass & Sedges for Resilient Landscapes, Part One: Loss of Biodiversity
- Sales & Customer Service Representative receives Stormwater Certificate
- A Busy September
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Plant Spotlight: Calamagrostis brachytricha
- How Grasses Make Your Backyard a Relaxing Place and Why
- How to Keep the Garden Looking Fresh in the Fall
- 7 Container Plants for Fall that will Pay Off in the Spring
- Nature-based Solutions: City Greening Reduces Carbon Emissions
- From Blacktop to Green: Cities are Depaving for a Cooler Future
- Urban Planning and Green Spaces: Balancing Development and Nature
- Bison and America's Prairie Ecosystem
- Designing Green Roofs for Dragonflies
- Why Some Animals Thrive in Cities
- Educational Opportunities
- Useful Resources
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Grass & Sedges for Resilient Landscapes, Part One: Loss of Biodiversity
Hoffman Nursery Blog
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As disruptive natural events become more common, there is an increased need for communities to recover quickly and regenerate. Working with nature (instead of against it) to build resilient landscapes provides a foundation for recovery and regeneration that can improve human and ecological health. A resilient landscape is an adaptive, forward-looking framework that works with nature to design and retrofit communities, and spaces to recover quickly and provide solutions from extreme events such as loss of biodiversity, drought, extreme heat, fire, flooding, and landslides.
Check out part one of our six-part blog series where we examine each of these extreme events and recommend grasses and sedges that work well in resilient landscapes. Our first post covers loss of biodiversity.
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Sales & Customer Service Representative Sami Nickerson receives Stormwater Certificate | |
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We are pleased to announce that Sami Nickerson has obtained the Stormwater SCM Inspection & Maintenance certification from North Carolina State University.
Communities across North Carolina must manage stormwater with Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) such as wet and dry retention ponds, bioretention areas, swales, and stormwater wetlands, to slow, filter, and direct stormwater runoff. These SCMs must have annual, and sometimes more frequent, inspections and maintenance to perform as intended. This certification provides an understanding of stormwater, and its effects on water quality, and covers the use, function, regulations, inspections, and maintenance of SCMs in North Carolina.
Sami, a graduate of North Carolina State University who joined Hoffman Nursery in August 2022, is the first member of our Sales team to receive this certification. Because many SCMs use vegetation (green infrastructure) that is specified in the NC Stormwater Design Manual, our goal is for all members of our sales team to earn this certification so we can better assist our customers with plant selections for green infrastructure measures. Our Core Purpose is to promote better living through plants, and we are thankful for our employees’ commitment to making our world a greener place.
For more information about N.C. State's stormwater workshops and certifications, visit Workshops & Conferences (ncsu.edu).
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We've had a busy September! From tours at the nursery and webinars to our joint Lunch and Learn with Panoramic Farms. Here's a look at some of the highlights! | | |
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Calamagrostis brachytricha is one of the few ornamental grasses that blooms in shady areas. It’s a beautiful specimen plant and looks stunning in masses where its foliage and plumes are always ready to catch the slightest breeze. It tolerates hot summers and produces feathery blooms on tall stalks. Foliage grows in a three-foot, fountain-like mound.
Great for:
- Shade gardens
- Mass plantings
- Large borders
- Woodland plantings
- Erosion control
- Cut flower arrangements
See our Plant Profile
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Landscape & Grass Spotlight | |
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How Grasses Make Your Backyard a Relaxing Place and Why
Living Etc.
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Landscape architecture expert Dr. Ross Cameron suggests ornamental grasses for a calm space, and it's all to do with the wind.
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How to Keep the Garden Looking Fresh in the Fall
Gardenista
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A garden that remains vibrant until the first frost can be mesmerizingly beautiful, making the most of autumn's soft light. Here's how to keep it singing.
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7 Container Plants for Fall that will Pay Off in the Spring
The Washington Post
| Containers of orange pansies and red mums are among the clearest signs that autumn has arrived in the garden. But the problem with falling back on these tried-and-true annuals is they don’t last more than a couple of months. If you’re willing to get more creative, you’ll find a host of shrubs, perennials, and grasses that offer vibrant autumn colors with an added benefit: They survive through winter and can be planted in the garden in spring. | | | |
Green Infrastructure & Nature-Based Solutions | |
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Nature-based Solutions: City Greening reduces Carbon Emissions
Earth.com
| A recent study published in the Nature Climate Change journal reveals that incorporating nature into city infrastructure doesn’t just capture carbon emissions, but it can also actively reduce them. The study was based on an integration of data from previous studies that examined the effects of various nature-based solutions. | | | |
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From Blacktop to Green: Cities Are Depaving for a Cooler Future
Reason to be Cheerful
| Climate-related heat and flooding have planners rethinking the heat-absorbing, impermeable stuff that covers so much of the urban landscape. The Depave movement has spread across the United States and Canada as climate-related extreme heat and flooding have made some cities rethink the wisdom of all that heat-absorbing, impervious surface area. | | | |
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Urban Planning and Green Spaces: Balancing Development and Nature in Cities
Living Architecture Monitor
| Green spaces in cities are beneficial to human health, providing areas where people can partake in exercise and relaxation while also promoting benefits related to dissipated noise and chemical pollution. This article from Living Architecture Monitor discusses some of the primary methods of incorporating green spaces into urban planning and their key benefits. | | | |
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Bison and America's Prairie Ecosystem
Whig.com
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In 2016, the American Bison was named our national mammal, and the development of our nation is inseparably tied to the species that once roamed this landscape in herds numbering hundreds of thousands. Much has been written about the near extinction and subsequent heroic conservation efforts that have been able to build back the species. As the population has been restored, researchers have begun to paint a picture of how bison herds impacted the plant communities on which they fed.
This article by Emily Swihart (who's a Horticulture Educator with Illinois Extension) shares more on bison and America’s prairie ecosystem, sparked by collecting native seeds with her son.
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Designing Green Roofs for Dragonflies
Living Architecture Monitor
| This article by Bruce Dvorak for Living Architecture Monitor discovers how to design biodiverse green roofs that attract and support dragonflies. Learn about the importance of water, stones, and flowering plants in creating dragonfly habitats on green roofs. | | | |
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Why Some Animals Thrive in Cities
Wired
| EAT ALMOST ANYTHING. Sleep almost anywhere. These, it seems, are the secrets to surviving in the city as a wild animal. Among the species that dominate urban spaces—pigeons, cockroaches, rats, foxes—these are the most obvious characteristics successful city dwellers have. But why do these animals and other wildlife thrive in the city? Figuring that out is the first step to boosting urban biodiversity. And that's good for everyone. | | | |
Educational Opportunities | |
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We are excited to share that Hoffman Nursery is hosting two webinars this fall. On November 7th, we will hold an immersive and interactive webinar called "Grasses and Sedges for Your Region," where we share insight on grasses and sedges that are resilient as well as customer favorites in eight North American regions.
On November 9th, we will host "Drought Tolerant and Low Water Use Grasses and Sedges", where we provide examples, the importance, and the difference between low water use and drought tolerant grasses and sedges.
Be on the lookout for more information (and registration) coming soon!
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Another exciting educational opportunity happening this fall is the New Naturalism Academy. This workshop, provided and taught by our good friend, designer, and author Kelly Norris, is a captivating six-week course in horticultural ecology. For keen gardeners and designers everywhere, and built from over a decade of research and practice, attendees will learn about wild plant communities and how to translate these insights into dynamic, natural design and gardening strategies. This online course occurs every Tuesday evening from October 10th through November 14th from 5:30–7:30 p.m. CST.
If you are interested in learning more or signing up, visit the New Naturalism Academy website.
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Download Availability & Order Form
Prices for liners, number of liners currently in stock, and future availability are listed in PDF and Excel files. You may also use these as order forms. Need details on what the numbers mean? Learn more here.
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