Blog
These Nine Will Change Your Mind – Garden Grasses for the Skeptic
A few weeks ago, I introduced you to the garden and told you the history of the old place with its ice-storm-ruined silver maple transformed into the meadow garden that you see today. We looked at the volunteer echinacea still in bloom and the baptisia that you’d never met but had heard … more
Ditch Your Leaf Blower and Your Garden Will Rise From the Dead this Halloween
Halloween 2020 won’t be be the same as pre-Covid and it won’t be the same as when my son was five and dressed as a silver-suited Jeremy Mouse from his beloved Tiptoes Lightly stories. Nor will it be the same Halloween as when I was young and impressionable and my … more
3 Principles of Garden Design I Learned as a Kid
The doll collection was special, but it was the pink jungle wallpaper that continues to influence my work to this day. Read my guest blog post for Simple Leaf Garden Design here to learn how.
5 Reasons to Plant More Bulbs This Fall
The dumbest question about flower bulbs, ever: “Do they have any purpose apart from being pretty?” Yes, sure they do, but what’s to shame about beauty? When you see the earliest snowdrops blooming in cloud-heavy winter, aren’t your spirits lifted? And when the crocus, then the daffodils follow, doesn’t their floral display … more
Bee-ing with Halictus, the Sweat Bee – #3 in the series
A knee injury for me (again!) is the perfect excuse for more bee-ing, less working in the garden. Couple that with National Pollinator Week, and I’m feet up, ice-wrapped, coffee in hand and all a-buzz to share with you what I’ve seen. After dinner at the picnic table last night (yay summer!), … more
Stop and See the Bees – #2 in the not dumbed-down pollinator gardening series
The hidden benefit of gardening for pollinators is the sense of well-being that comes from watching the myriad flying visitors, like real living fairies, dart and dash and sup and rest amidst the blooms. In the first of this series on pollinator gardening, I gave you a specific tip to attract more … more
Not Dumbed-Down Tips for Your Pollinator Garden – #1 Lacy Phacelia
Everywhere you look, there’s talk of gardening for pollinators. The piece in Fine Gardening promotes plants from its sponsored nursery as being the best for bees, the city of Eugene’s public works rag gives some tips as it’s cover piece, and nurseries have new signage touting the pollinator friendly plants on display. … more
Not All (Plant) Diseases Require Quarantine
Weaving up the north side of Skinner’s Butte through the lush growth of April, the bird song grows louder and more layered. I walk this route often and it’s remarkable how consistent this pattern is, as if someone turns the volume up the higher you climb. There’s one spot in particular where … more
You Can Have Both: Native Habitat and a Gorgeous Garden
How often do you come to the big AHA! moment as you’re going about your regular routine? Not so often, right? It takes space to see beyond the habitual. It might be something you already knew, but you see it in a fresh way because of a vacation, a chance encounter or … more
The Stalwart Beauty Everyone’s Quiet About, Except This Guy
Oh, Oh, OH, that is GORgeous! A booming, Brooklyn-inflected voice approaches the far side of the camellia table at Gray’s Nursery. Oh, look at THAT one, GORgeous! I love this man instantly. Even more when I hear his companion cooing about bees in the blooms. I edge around the … more
