Review published in Spring 2011 issue Washington Gardener magazine -

From Eco-weak to Eco-chic: Landscape Green
By Sylvia Hoehns Wright
Published by Lulu.com Press, http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/from-eco-weak-to-eco-chic-landscape-green/7539795 
List Price: $22.95
Reviewer: Edna Troiano

Sylvia Hoehns Wright’s From Eco-weak to Eco-chic offers readers guidelines for joining the green revolution in their own yards. Wright, a Virginia Master Gardener, gardening consultant, speaker, columnist, and writer, was the EcoSavvy columnist for Washington Gardener magazine, also.

Becoming eco-chic, Wright explains, is primarily a matter of “working with instead of against an area’s natural environment” to create sustainable, eco-friendly landscapes. Wright stresses the importance of developing a base plan that takes into account several variables — including climate, topography, light, soil, lifestyle, and house style. For example, if you travel often, you’ll want a low-maintenance garden and, if you like to cook, you’ll want to consider growing vegetables, a modern house in a wooded lot would be out of place for a city Victorian. 

To lead the reader through the complexities of planning an eco-chic landscape, Wright includes boxed assignments and tips and strategies so the reader will ultimately reach the goal of having the “right plant installed in the right place at the right time of the year (optimal planting season).” Wright provides several fundamental eco-strategies. The use of native plants is basic. Because native plants grow naturally in a region, they thrive with less coaxing, saving fertilizer, pesticide, gardening time, and money. Composting allows the gardener to “feed the soil, not the plant,” thus reducing the need for chemicals. Conserving water reduces waste while providing adequate moisture for healthy plants. Making pest management part of a gardening plan reduces the need for chemicals and pesticides.

Wright includes multiple approaches for planting, pruning, maintaining a garden, resolving some problems, and avoiding others through proactive strategies. Because Wright is from Virginia, many of her illustrations and suggestions are appropriate for her region; however, her basic guidelines can be applied to any garden, anywhere. Eco-gardening — it’s part of the green revolution, the “waste not, want not” approach to life. But becoming an eco-chic gardener means you’ll have plants that thrive naturally in your region, require less water, fewer chemicals, and less labor, so what’s good for the garden will also be a boon for the gardener. 

 

Edna Troiano is a retired English professor who now has time for reading, writing, and gardening.