Tuesday’s Tips — Planting My Meadow

Mary Beth: I've been dreaming about planting a meadow in my yard for a long time and the new gas line we had installed a couple of months ago provided me with the last push I needed to get this project underway. After searching for the right mixture for my zone (intermountain climate, Sunset Zone 2B),...

Memory Keepers in Our Gardens

Garden Journal Barbara: As I was making the rounds in my garden yesterday morning I found I was experiencing it in a very different way. The shift in perception was triggered by a single perfect rose on a plant that my daughter had given me for Mother's Day some years ago. Brass Band is a...

Poppy Fields

Barbara: Is there any color more beautiful than the velvety yellow-orange of the California Poppy? It's one of those colors that grabs your attention and won't let go. Each spring I put a trip to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve on my list of things to do and each year I wait too long and...

Can’t Stop!

Besides, it's highly attractive to Monarch butterflies and it'll take part shade, which is pretty much all I've got. So I took two!

The Bees and the Witch Hazel — an Almost Wordless Wednesday

Mary Beth: One warm day last week I wondered why my bees hadn't visited the witch hazel. Seemed weird that they would pass up this opportunity to gather pollen from the only plant in bloom in the garden. Well, yesterday I wondered no more. They were giddy with it. It was a pollen party for...

Deer Fencing and Other Spring Happenings

Mary Beth: Memorial Day weekend on Block Island was a busy one and if it hadn’t started to rain I’d still be out there. The reason I was so busy was that this is the year Ray and I decided to come up with a real solution to the deer problem — well, I decided...

Going Native, Pollinators Welcome

B: My plants are finally in the ground. It seemed like such a long process. And the truth is it kind of was. Per my usual habit, I had to research EVERYTHING; partly because I just need to know and partly because I HATE making mistakes. And that’s ridiculous, of course. I mean really, what's...

A California Bee Garden

B: To kill the lawn or not to kill the lawn? That is the question. As we've been writing this blog, I've spent lots of time thinking of ways I can help the honeybees. Since I live in an over-regulated, zero-lot line suburban community, where the locals' favorite activity is making sure EVERYONE follows the...