Milkweed, an ignored plant of the road side, is making a comeback with gardeners and people concerned with the environment. A fascinating plant valuable to many insects, including the Monarch, is essential to providing food and shelter for many animals and insects.
Silvery Beauty-Silver Falls Trailer
Silver Falls, Dichondra argentea, has been in the gardening world for a while now but I don't find that gardeners use it very often. Too bad! This plant makes an easy to grow spiller/trailer out of containers and a great low ground cover.
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Butterflying-Capturing the Perfect Butterfly Image
"Butterflying", the hobby of observing and photographing butterflies is on the uptrend. Find out the best way to attract butterflies, the best places to see them in the wild, and tips to photograph them.
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Build the Buzz-Beekeeping Revolution
Beekeepers with new ideas, energy, and ways of doing things are transforming the apiary yard to something that beekeepers from 50 years ago wouldn't recognize.
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Beekeeping Start-Up, Jump Into the World of Keeping Bees
Beekeeping has moved from the pastime of fusty middle-aged men to young urban couples and singles. It is trendy now to become a beekeeper! Who could have predicted that? When I worked at the bee booth at the Fairgrounds recently, I was amazed at the young (under 25!) people, both male and female who were into beekeeping! I …
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Grow These For the Bees Garden Plan
Many pollinator species have suffered serious declines in recent years. Unfortunately, most of our landscapes offer little in the way of appropriate habitat, forage, and housing. Even the most beautiful gardens are not always healthy ecosystems. Design choices, plant selections, and maintenance practices can make a huge difference in creating your own healthy ecosystem, filled …
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Black Beauty Lily
Lilies are my favorite flower. They last a long time in the garden, are usually fragrant, make great cut flowers, and pollinators flock to them. Oh, and they are so easy to grow! All these attributes make lilies my go-to flower to plant every year. But some lilies just increase in number and come …
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Ratatouille-Garden on a Plate
An overflowing garden and a frig packed with produce is an opportunity to make the classic vegetarian French stew Ratatouille, using up everything in one fell swoop. Chock full of eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and ripe summer tomatoes, this summer stew will produce a dish to feed a crowd, pack for lunch, and freeze for later. …
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The Monarch Diaries-Adult (Part 3)
The last stage of Monarch raising is the most magical-transforming into a butterfly! This generation of butterfly will make the 3000 mile journey to Mexico of California.
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The Monarch Diaries-Caterpillar (Part 2)
Raising Monarchs inside to observe their incredible transformation is simple if you have a good supply of Milkweed and an easy to make enclosure made out of a tomato cage.
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The Monarch Diaries-Rearing Monarchs Egg to Adult (Part 1)
Raising Monarch Butterflies inside can be a fascinating activity for kids and adults. Milkweed and a few supplies is all you need to get started.
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Garden Blue
As a landscape designer, when I ask a client what colors they want in their garden, they invariably will say that blue is top of the list. So, I am always looking for good blue perennials and annuals to satisfy this urge. Blue is also the most popular color in the world so I understand …
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