Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott is my hero. She is an associate professor and extension urban horticulturist at Washington State University.
In her books The Informed gardener and The informed gardener blooms again she uses science to examine common garden and landscape myths. Warning: she explodes many common myths.
Sustainable Landscape and Gardens is more of a technical manual which can be ordered directly from Linda. Her latest book How plants work is a fantastic book for gardeners everywhere and green professionals. I finished the book while travelling in Japan in late May and my review will appear in a future blog.
Linda also writes in popular magazines and has published extensively in scientific literature. We have already seen reference to her technical paper on mulches in an earlier blog.
So why a hero?
- She is a Ph.D. and gardener who uses sound science
- She translates hard science into understandable and thus usable information for all gardeners and green professionals, and, this is important
- She is “local”
If you are a gardener or green professional, you will love her work. If you read it and study it, it will make you a better professional or gardener. Google her today and thank me later. I hope to meet her at a future seminar…..
There is still time to join a free online soils course called Soils: Introducing the world beneath our feet, starting July 6, 2015, and taught by Dr. Carly Stevens from Lancaster University. It’s an online course with videos, articles, audio, discussions and assignments. Students will take part in activities that explore the soils where they live. No prerequisites or experience required, the course is open to all.
