Discover how a landscape can express the beauty of nature and be ecologically sound by designing with the use of native plants.  Landscape designer Larry Weaner, founder of New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL), will be the guest speaker on Zoom on Thursday, June 13 at 7 pm.  The program, Breaking the Rules: Ecological Landscape Design and Traditional Landscape Methodology, is sponsored by Friends of Laurelwood Arboretum.

This program is eligible for 1 hour of Passaic County Master Gardener Continuing Education credit. $10 for members of Friends of Laurelwood Arboretum and $20 for nonmembers.  To register, go to https://laurelwoodarboretum.org/civicrm/event/register/?reset=1&id=87

Weaner’s presentation examines how alternative approaches on everything from selecting, arranging, and spacing plants to the simple act of weeding can yield beautiful, more easily maintained landscapes that express the ecological richness of our native landscapes.  Using native plants requires more than simply expanding the conventional design palette.  Based on observation of how native plants develop in nature, new design, implementation, and management techniques emerge, many of which are diametrically opposed to traditional horticultural practice.

The design and restoration work of the firm Larry Weaner Landscape Associates spans more than 20 U.S. states and the U.K. and has been profiled in national publications.  He is co-author of Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change.  NDAL, the educational organization he founded, is dedicated to the art, culture and science of ecology-based landscape design and practice.

Breaking the Rules: Ecological Landscape Design and Traditional Landscape Methodology is second in this year’s Gardening for Nature Series, sponsored by Friends of Laurelwood Arboretum. It is funded by a grant from the Albert Payson Terhune Foundation of Verona, New Jersey.