Gardener's Guide to Global Warming

The National Wildlife Federation has come up with a 40-page guide called "The Gardener's Guide to Global Warming: Challenges and Solutions" that is worth checking out. In addition, their website has a couple interesting maps--one indicating which states have either a state tree or state flower (or both) that are in peril due to global warming, and another showing the revised hardiness zones according to the National Arbor Day Foundation. Take a look.

Step It Up

There's been an interesting conversation going on at Garden Rant today regarding global warming, a subject I find myself thinking, reading, and obsessing about more and more these days.

This Saturday, April 14, has been declared a National Day of Climate Action. The point of it is to gather people together in more than a thousand events across the country to send a message to Congress demanding carbon cuts of 80% by the year 2050. It's a serious goal and I think the time is right to demand action of our legislators.

To find a rally near you (or to plan one) go to the web site for Step It Up 2007. You'll find more than 1300 events already listed. I'll be attending one here in Alameda, which includes a rally, a march up the main street in town, and a town hall discussion and teach-in at the public library. It looks like it will offer a lot of information and, hopefully, a plan of action for us as a community.

Cherry Blossoms and Wishes

In honor of the Cherry Blossom Festival going on right now in Washington, D.C., I thought I'd show off a few of the blossoms gracing my dwarf Ranier cherry tree right now.

The pictures I've seen of the blossoms in D.C. (the Washington Post has provided some good coverage) are really spectacular and I'd love to actually be there one of these years to see it in person. But I particularly enjoyed reading today about Yoko Ono's "Wish Tree" project. Ono has installed ten potted cherry trees in bloom around the city so that people can tie on slips of paper with their wishes written on them. After two weeks, the wishes will be collected and Ono will incorporate them into her Imagine Peace Tower, to be installed later this year in Iceland.

It's a lovely idea and I look forward to seeing the tower when it's completed and god knows, imagining peace seems like the least we can do. But I won't be tying any wishes to my tree. To me, a tree is a wish in and of itself. Enough said.