The Not So Secret Life of Bees
Two years ago, when we moved into this house, I planted the beginnings of a butterfly garden. Last summer it didn’t amount to much — the perennials were small and it just didn’t have many winged visitors. There was a little more interest this summer; I’ve had several types of swallowtails, lots of cabbage whites …
The Golden Hour Garden
Every now and then it just so happens that you are in the right place at the right time and something extraordinary happens. Bear with me while I explain. The presenter at the last design workshop I attended spent a large portion of the time talking about the importance of light in the …
Water Features: An Oasis of Your Own
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” The words of John Lubbock, an early British statesman and naturalist, hold enormous truths …
Dining Out -- In Your Own Backyard
It was a perfect spring day here today — the kind of day that makes you want to spend all day outdoors luxuriating in the warm sun and soft breezes. Knowing that I should be inside cleaning the kitchen or vacuuming floors, instead I made myself a sandwich, grabbed a book I’ve been wanting to …
What Are Your True Colors? Part 1: Color Schemes
I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my outlook on life is directly tied to the amount of time I spend outdoors working or playing or just relaxing in my yard. I used to think it was time in the sunshine that made me feel better — Vitamin D, you know — …
Fill the Need for Green - Visit a Nearby Botanical Garden
It’s been nearly two weeks since we have seen blue sky and sun here. Temperatures have been so miserable that zero feels like a heat wave and to top it all off, our driveway becomes a death trap in snowy or icy weather so I am essentially housebound right now. With January not even half …
Winter Actvities with Kids
A dinner conversation we recently had wandered into the land of “Do you remember when the kids were little, we…?” As we laughed and talked about the past, I realized that most of our reminiscing centered on things we had done outdoors as a family. I wondered if those experiences were a big part of our …
How Much Is Enough? Nature, that is...
A few weeks ago, I thumbed through a half a dozen magazines as I sat waiting for my doctor’s appointment. Each had at least one article about the environment. Most focused on climate change and protecting our fragile world, but one was decidedly different. Instead of the big global issues which can sometimes seem so …
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