Not being an expert on anything, Brenda, let me venture a guess. I think "sustainable gardening" is just the more general term. Whereas, "xeriscaping" always refers to a drought tolerant garden where one does not desire to, or cannot water much or at all. Thus X always = S, but S = lots of different types of gardening that may be unconventional for the conditions at hand, but at which one succeeds at by working at it.

I think the terms are confusing. As I understand it Xeric means dry as in without water - so xeriscaping was non watered landscapes. Plenty of western natives flourish in that style so the term got co-opted into the native movement. As far as I know xeriscaping was always used to define an ornamental gardening style, it only applied to flowerbeds or decorative landscaping.

Sustainable gardening I think started in the food growing gardening world - like organic farming became organic gardening. It may now have applications in the ornamental landscape as well. I assume it has to do with gardening in the most efficient manner, with an eye to long term management (like, you wouldn't use chemicals because of their long term effects on the environment not because they might be harmful to the gardener). Also I think it trends towards activities such as collecting your own seed rather than buying seed for your garden - self sustaining rather than depending on outside sources for things.

Permaculture is next in this wave.

What I've read indicates that sustainable gardening means protecting the environment from contamination or deterioration (little or no use of chemicals and pesticides), improving soil organically and renewing wildlife habitat.

Here is a link that may be useful: SC Wildlife Federation on sustainable gardening.

It looks like Alicia has hit on the overlap of the terms. Conserving water would definitely be toward protecting the future of the earth.

But now I'm wondering if the term "sustainable" can be used in two quite different ways as it applies to gardening. I have read that something like a windowsill herb garden is a form of sustainable gardening. Or growing lettuce in NC in the winter. Perhaps this is where the confusion lies, eh, John?

Yes, the term sustainable gardening does mean getting the most out of what you've got and making sure that you will continue to.

Pup - I think anyone selling windowsill herb gardens as sustainable gardening is really reaching to the limits of what the term is supposed to mean. My impression talking to folks that claim to be into sustainable and permaculture style gardeners is that you wouldn't have a lawn nor a flowerbed in your yard. All available space would be used to grow food crops and medicinal herbs. It is never about how things look - its about how they function. Now, plenty of these sorts of folks are practicing edible landscaping where your yard is decoratively planted. The food crops are simply mixed in with the flowers where herbs perform double duty as accent plants in the flowerbeds and accent plants in the salad bowl.

There was that Japanese gardening guru that taught that your garden should look like nature - no rows of manicured plants all uniform in size and shape. He doesn't believe in tilling or weeding, you just scatter seeds and hope for the best. If the crops fail you eat the weeds.

Yes, I guess that is stretching it, getting the most out of your windowsill. :)

So I think you are right, the word xeriscape has "dry" in its make-up, so I've thought of it incorrectly for years. Thanks for all the good info. I always thought it was a neat idea - to landscape with not just native plants, but plants native to other areas of the world with similar climate and soil, thus using less added water, fertilizer, and pesticides. I guess that's not the definition of either xeriscaping or sustainable gardening. I've always thought that Korea had similar climate and soil to us here in the Piedmont - is that right? What other areas are similar?

I'll be interested to see what anybody comes up with on that. There's a quote I read sometime- can't remember who or where that goes something like- If you don't like the weather in North Carolina just wait a while, it will change. That's why I'm all ears to how different plants perform for anyone actually growing them here.

I think sustainable gardening could include non-natives, as long as they're not invasive. A lot of non-natives are good for wildlife; a lot of crops are non-native as well.

Many plants from China and Japan tend to do well here.

I don't if it is the climate but there are plenty of shrubs and small tree families that only occur naturally along the east coast of the US and the east coast of Asia. Rhododendron, Hydrangea, Calycanthus/Illicium off the top of my head. Has something to do with way back when there was only one continent Pangea or Gondwonaland before it split up into the land masses we see today.

One cool thing to look at is the way our native habitat is very similar to habitats south of here (Mexico thru South America), only the further south you go the higher up in elevation you have to go to find the similarities.

This is one thing Tony at PDN has explored. A plant he offers is Lepechinia hastata a Salvia relative from Hawaii. Somehow some seeds from a Salvia relative in South America ended up on the islands (long long ago) and developed into this plant, a plant that is only found in Hawaii. Even though it never needed cold hardiness to survive on the islands it never lost the cold hardiness its relatives needed to survive in the mountains of South America. So even in the tropics you can find temperate zone (and cold hardy) relatives.

Just to be a brat and reach the limits, you're all getting Chia Pet herb gardens in your stockings! Or you can grow them on your heads...no soil required!

i should have my daughter respond to this thread - she has had a college course in sustainable gardening/agriculture. but, i do remember her commenting one time, while we were walking around my yard, that the mere act of collecting, shredding, mulching & amending my gardens with the leaves that fall here - was an act of sustainable gardening, as was my on-site production of chicken-manure for fertilization. i got the strong impression that the goal is utilize to the fullest whatever nature provides in yourown patch o'heaven. her project for the course was to design a sustainable garden, and she based hers on my front yard. the lawn/grass was the first to go! and i recall that part of sustaining a garden was to provide heat & reflective light to create microclimates, if you will - a small pond was part of her design. edible plants, shrubs & trees were interspersed with flowering plants, shrubs & trees. the class visited a lot of examples of "sustainable", and none were limited to edible plants. they were all a mixture of flowers and mostly herbs, root & fruit crops - fig trees were common, along with blueberries.

while i will not be following her design project verbatim, i DID remove the entire lawn and all of my foundation plantings this fall. i'll incorporate as much of her sustainable plan as my eye and taste will allow.

Speaking of Lepichinia hastata- I ordered seeds from Seedhunt. I'll be sure not to sow them all in case I fail.