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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>“Lawns are up to 90% impervious”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Japanese Stiltgrass acts like your lawn in this
regard. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> Research indicates that Japanese Stiltgrass is a
major<BR> contributor of Nitrogen pollution in the Chesapeake Bay
and<BR> reduces by half the ability of any land it dominates to hold
water<BR> and release it slowly. It is the single worst invasive
species<BR> in our Mid-Atlantic region. <BR></DIV>
<DIV>With the very low root biomass, evapotranspiration, pH and<BR>nitrification
greatly increase along with loss of organic soil<BR>horizon and two thirds of
litter lost. Most vetebrate and<BR>invertebrates are lost including several
birds that depend on<BR>native vegetation as part of their supporting ecosystem.
Several<BR>parks have already lost half their flora.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ehrenfeld, J. G., P. Kourtev, and W. Huang. 2001. Changes in
soil<BR>functions following invasions of exotic understory plants
in<BR>deciduous forests. Ecological Applications 1:1287-1300.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Marc Imlay, PhD<BR>Conservation biologist, Anacostia Watershed
Society<BR>(301-699-6204, 301-283-0808),<BR>Board member of the Mid-Atlantic
Exotic Pest Plant Council,<BR>Hui o Laka at Kokee State Park, Hawaii,<BR>Vice
president of the Maryland Native Plant Society<BR>Chair of the Biodiversity and
Habitat Stewardship Committee<BR>for the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra
Club.<BR><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><FONT face=Arial size=2>----- Original Message
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<DIV id=byline>By Joel M. Lerner</DIV><BR>Saturday, September 10, 2005; Page
F18</FONT><FONT size=3> </FONT>
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<P><NITF>How much do you like your lawn? A lot? A little? Do you groom it to a
golf-course green and glow with pride when your neighbors turn almost as green
with envy, or do you hate every precious minute it takes to mow the
stuff?</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>However strongly you feel one way or the other, Zora Lathan of the
Chesapeake Ecology Center would like you to please, for the good of the planet,
reduce huge expanses of turf.</NITF></P>
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<P><NITF>"Lawns are up to 90 percent impervious," Lathan said. "Most people
don't realize that." Impervious spaces -- not just lawns, but buildings,
driveways, parking lots, streets and highways -- fail to catch and hold
rainwater. Instead, the water simply runs off, carrying with it any contaminants
or pollutants (gasoline, fertilizer, pesticides) and filling storm sewers or
swelling streams, which in turn pour potentially deadly water down through
watersheds and into bodies of water such as the Chesapeake Bay.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>"Any water that falls on your land should stay," Lathan said. That
doesn't mean it simply sits there. Water should slowly percolate into the
ground, becoming cleaned and purified, then replenish the aquifer, the
water-holding layer that is the source of well water. Water that runs off never
gets to the aquifer, and it never gets cleaned of chemicals that can lead to
reduced oxygen in bodies of water, such as the Chesapeake Bay, endangering fish,
crabs and other forms of life.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>At the end of August, a report by the University of Maryland Center for
Environmental Science said that the oxygen-depleted "dead zone" covered 41
percent of the bay estuary. That was up from 36 percent in July, making it one
of the worst months in more than two decades.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>While some of the pollution that's causing oxygen levels to drop comes
from farms and commercial operations that aren't under the control of ordinary
people, every bit of effort to stop runoff is important, Lathan said. "We need
better landscaping processes, or we will pay a price. You may not care about the
environment from a landscaping perspective, but you do care about what's on your
dinner plate."</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Lathan is executive director of the Chesapeake Ecology Center, a
nonprofit environmental organization that runs 18 native plant demonstration
gardens on the grounds of Adams Academy at Adams Park in Annapolis. The academy
is an alternative school for at-risk middle students, and part of the curriculum
is working in the gardens.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Some of the kids are reluctant at first to embrace gardening, Lathan
said, but when they see the results, they end up being proud of their
work.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Volunteers also help at the gardens. A recent project has been removing
asphalt from swales designed to funnel runoff from the school's parking lots
into a nearby stream. Now we know there are better ways to handle runoff than
building drainage culverts. The swales will be turned into "rain gardens,"
planted areas where water will not run off, but will be absorbed into the
soil.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Creating a rain garden is one of things people can do to improve their
immediate environment. Lathan is always surprised that people think it
difficult. A rain garden is no more than a 3- to 6-inch, saucer-shaped
depression planted with native grasses and flowering perennials. The depression
and the plants collect rain and let it seep into the earth. The depression
shouldn't be so deep that water pools -- it should be gone in 24 to 48
hours.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>And the area needn't be large. "Any size rain garden is better than no
rain garden," Lathan said.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Good plants for a native rain garden are switchgrass ( <I>Panicum
virgatum</I> ), smooth white penstemon ( <I>P. digitalis</I> ), silky dogwood (
<I>Cornus amomum</I> ), arrowwood viburnum ( <I>V. dentatum</I> ), spicebush (
<I>Lindera benzoin</I> ), cinnamon fern ( <I>Osmunda cinnamomea</I> ) and big
blue lobelia ( <I>Lobelia siphilitica</I> ).</NITF></P></DIV></DIV><BR
clear=all>
<DIV id=article>What you don't want to plant, and what you do want to do away
with if you have them in your yard or garden, might be the invasive non-native
plants, such as butterfly bush, miscanthus, Bradford pears or English ivy. These
plants, while beautiful and popular, crowd out native species and often are
useless to native fauna, providing neither habitat nor nourishment.</NITF>
<P><NITF>When explaining the invasive non-natives to students, Lathan uses the
example of the northern snakehead, the voracious Asian fish that devours other
fish and aquatic life in its environment. It destroys native species.</NITF></P>
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<P><NITF>There are a growing number of places to get information on rain
gardens. See what's being done locally on the Pepco Rain Garden Installation
Site at <A href="http://www.potomacriver.org/arbc/rgphotos.htm" target=""><FONT
color=#0c4790>http://www.potomacriver.org/arbc/rgphotos.htm</FONT></A> . Many
nurseries and garden centers carry selections of plants suitable for planting in
rain gardens.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Another landscaping process that helps retain water and nurture native
species is to create contours in the garden. Contours, except for gentle slopes,
are not lawn mower friendly, but nature is all about knolls and swales, Lathan
says. These topographical changes are what make it possible for plants to grow
on their own without need for special care such as fertilizer and irrigation.
This type of water-efficient landscaping is frequently called
xeriscaping.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>Although xeriscaping has most notably taken hold in the desert
Southwest, it can actually be practiced anywhere. It simply means gardening in a
water-efficient manner, using mulch and compost to hold moisture and installing
more native plants that will withstand the typical rainfall received in a
particular region. They don't need to be watered or fertilized. Xeriscaped
knolls work well with rain garden swales and create a natural landscape that
offers living places and food for birds, insects, and other wildlife.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>To learn more about rain gardens, native and non-native plants, and
other Bay-friendly landscape techniques, visit the Chesapeake Ecology Center's
Garden Open House, book release and native plant sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Adams Academy at Adams Park, 245 Clay St.,
Annapolis.</NITF></P>
<P><NITF>There will be guided tours of the 18 demonstration gardens, children's
activities and refreshments. In addition, Lathan and Thistle A. Cone, authors of
"Ecoscaping Back to the Future: Restoring Chesapeake Landscapes," are to
autograph copies of the book. It has nearly 100 pages of practical, up-to-date
information on conservation landscaping, including a list of resources for
plants and information. The book costs $15 and benefits the ecology center,
which depends on donations, volunteers and fundraising efforts for survival. For
more information and directions, go to <A
href="http://www.chesapeakeecologycenter.org/" target=""><FONT
color=#0c4790>http://www.ChesapeakeEcologyCenter.org</FONT></A> .</NITF></P>
<P><NITF><I>Joel M. Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View
Park, Md. E-mail or contact him through his Web site,<A
href="http://www.gardenlerner.com/"><FONT
color=#0c4790>http://www.gardenlerner.com</FONT></A>.</I></P>
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