Has Michelle Obama’s Garden Started a First Family Trend?

When Michelle Obama announced plans for a White House kitchen garden, local foodies, gardeners, and health advocates rejoiced: what better way to promote the value of home-grown food than get the first family involved. It turns out that the Obamas aren’t the only executive family growing vegetables on the grounds of the official residence: a number of governors and their spouses have taken up the cause of not just planting vegetables, but also implementing more sustainable landscaping practices at governors’ mansions and even state capitols.

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Green the Grounds is a website (and educational campaign) investigating the use of greener landscaping practices and food gardening at the state level. While most governors haven’t put this high on their priority list, a few stand out as models:

• The grounds surrounding the governor of Pennsylvania’s residence may set the bar for green landscaping: the Philadelphia Inquirer recently profiled the efforts started there by Tom and Michele Ridge, and continued by the Rendells. Features include Penn’s Woods, “a shady enclave of native plants from woodlands and meadows put in by [the Ridges],” and a new organic herb and vegetable garden installed by the Rendells.

Read the rest of this post on executive organic gardens at SUNfiltered.

Image: Cranberry Bog on the Ohio Governor’s Residence grounds. Credit: Ohio Governor’s Residence and Heritage Gardens

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