Sunday Zen

Durango, Colorado Irvine, California

Garden Journal — Cute? Not with Those Fangs!

At first light Sunday morning as I sat reading the paper, I was startled by Emmie's fearsome barking. All I could see were some crows pecking at the neighbor's roof, and while she hates the resident murder of crows (yes, that's really what a group of crows is called), Emmie usually doesn't get that worked...

Tuesday’s Tips — Where to find soil and other essentials.

Note: This week's tips are aimed at our home communities of central Orange County, CA and Durango, CO, though if you are in another location you might glean some ideas about where to look in your own area. The UCCE Orange County Master Gardeners have a great hotline (714-708-1646 or hotline@uccemg.com) that's available to OC residents...

Sunday Zen

Durango, Colorado Irvine, California

Garden Journal — How We Think About Gardens

At the very beginning of the year I read an article in the Sunday New York Times that is part of a "series in which writers from around the world describe the view from their window" accompanied by an illustration of that view. In this piece called "Mr. Borges's Garden," Maria Kodama, wife of the late writer...

Sunday Zen

Durango, Colorado Irvine, California

Tuesday’s Tips — Disappearing Bumble Bees

We've written a lot about Colony Collapse Disorder and the nearly overwhelming problems that affect honey bees, but things are at least as dire for our native bees, most notably the lovely bumble bee. Bumbles are the stuff of our childhood memories. Who, when remembering walks through wildflower fields, doesn't see in their mind's eye...