Burning bush is a popular ornamental shrub known for its bright red fall foliage. Despite its attractive appearance, this plant has become a serious problem in many parts of the northeastern United States.

Adapted from Roll Back Your Turf  (originally published in Native Plant News by Native Plant Trust) by Jane Roy Brown and Alexis Doshas, offers a practical and inspiring guide for transforming traditional lawns into ecologically rich gardens with native plants. For generations, the classic American lawn has been a symbol of tidy, well-kept landscapes. But the cost of maintaining that green carpet—endless mowing, watering, fertilizing, and weed-killing—comes at a high price t

Some ideas for helping create and improve habitat for native plants and animals. 1. Lawns. How much lawn do you really want or need? Lawns are the highest maintenance item in the backyard. Lawns require a lot of time, attention and money. They also are heavy consumers of water, a precious and limited resource. Perhaps you can downsize the lawn to a size you really use for play and picnics and make butterfly and bird friendly flower and shrub beds with part of the yard. Use n

Water has entered my conversations a lot lately. It comes up when I walk at the West Hartford Reservoir with my best friend and we discuss the news of the MDC sale of water to the Niagara bottling company, it comes up when I catch up on another friend’s daughters, one in California and one in Texas both battling serious droughts and wildfires, it comes up when chatting with neighbors about their yellowing lawns. Water may be the next resource we begin to lose, and we should s