Quick Takes With: Toshi Yano

For our series with Perfect Earth Project on how to be more sustainable in your landscapes at home, we often turned to its former executive director, Toshi Yano, for his expertise on ecological gardening. He was always gracious about sharing his expertise: He gave us his best spring gardening tips, revealed his go-to sources for native plants, and showed us his favorite native plant combinations. And today, Toshi—now the director of horticulture at Bryant Park and the 34th Street Partnership, and a board member of the American Public Gardens Association and Metro Hort Group—is sharing more of his plant wisdom. Yay!

Your first garden memory:

A visit to Dumbarton Oaks with my mother in 1978. She’d take me there pretty regularly when I was growing up. I especially loved the set of double stairs that curves around that beautiful, singular Beatrix Farrand niche.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

The American Woodland Garden by Rick Darke.

Instagram account that inspires you:

Can I say four? @snaptyrurtle, @wambuilovesplants, @conquerthesoil, and @colindavidstewart.

Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

Exuberant, slightly psychedelic.

Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:

European beeches are no longer appropriate for the Northeast. [See The Next Big Blight? Everything You Need to Know About Beech Leaf Disease.]

Favorite go-to plant:

‘Alma Potschke’—the hot pink New England aster.

Plant that makes you swoon:

A wild lady’s slipper.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

There’s no such thing as a bad plant, only bad plant management.

Unpopular gardening opinion:

Maintenance is more important than design.

Gardening or design trend that needs to go:

Designing without a long-term maintenance plan.

Old wives’ tale gardening trick that actually works:

In a pinch, jewelweed can help reduce poison ivy rash.

Favorite way to bring the outdoors in.

Highly fragrant plants around windows and doors.

Favorite hardscaping material:

Peastone, because it’s also a great medium for dryer-tending plants.

Tool you can’t live without:

My wife introduced me to a Japanese weeding sickle called a nejiri gama that I think everyone should have.

Go-to gardening outfit:

Long pants, long sleeves, light boots, hat that covers ears. Gloves are optional.

Favorite nursery, plant shop, or seed company:

There are so many good ones! I like small growers like Barkaboom in NY, The Bunker Farm in NH, Earth Tones in CT. Bigger wholesale nurseries in NJ like Pinelands and Pleasant Run. Plug growers like New Moon, Kind Earth, North Creek… I could go on forever.

On your wishlist:

Carex woodii. [See Trend Alert: A Carex for Every Garden.]

Not-to-be-missed public garden/park/botanical garden:

Wethersfield Estate & Garden, where I used to work, and Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden. [Read our Quick Takes with Stoneleigh’s director Ethan Kauffman here.]

The REAL reason you garden:

So I can be outside tending to plants and creatures.

Thanks so much, Toshi! (You can follow him on Instagram @toshiyanotoshiyano.) 

For our full archive of Quick Takes, head here.