-
Local Christmas Gifts for Humboldt County Gardeners
Hellebore photo courtesy of Skagit Gardens What’s that, my fellow Humboldtians? Time’s gotten away from you yet again, with no gifts purchased and only a short time until Christmas? Never fear, I’ve got you covered. I called up a variety of local shops to find out which gift they’d most recommend for the gardener on…
-
What I’ve Been Doing (When I Haven’t Been Here)
It’s been a busy summer with a lot of new adventures, and while I haven’t been blogging as much as I would like, if you’ve kept a sharp eye out you’ve probably seen me in some other publications. If you’ve been missing your North Coast Gardening fix, here are a few of my favorite articles…
-
Edible Landscaping for Industrial Settings: Tips and Best Plants
Last week, I talked about some of the benefits and drawbacks of edible landscaping in “public” spheres such as commercial/ business landscaping or in a multifamily residence such as an apartment complex. This week, I want to talk more about how to actually succeed with this. Though there are a number of settings in which…
-
Edible Landscaping for Industrial Settings: Benefits and Drawbacks
Does edible landscaping belong in the public sphere, which is to say in the landscapes owned by cities, businesses, and in multifamily housing like apartment buildings? It sounds like a great idea, and if asked, I think most people would give an unqualified and enthusiastic “yes”! However, there are a lot of considerations with edible…
-
Review of Kiss My Aster by Amanda Thomsen
Every so often, a book comes along which challenges the limits of the media and shows how much is still possible with old-fashioned paper and ink. Amanda Thomsen’s new book Kiss My Aster: A Graphic Guide to Creating a Fantastic Yard Totally Tailored to You, is just such a book.
-
Cat Stuck in a Tree? Call These Tree-Climbing Heroes
Cat stuck in a tree? We all have a friendly mental picture in our minds of a firefighter rescuing a stranded cat from the topmost branches of a tree, but the reality is that most fire departments won’t even attempt to rescue a cat due to liability issues, and the concern that a call involving…
-
Low-Maintenance Planting Design: More Than Just Plant Selection
There are a lot of misunderstandings about low-maintenance planting design. A lot of people think that in order to have a low-maintenance landscape, you just need to choose low-maintenance plants. But the way you design your planting beds is as important as the plants you select – maybe even more so. Here are a few…
-
Monday Miscellany: Prince Harry’s Chelsea Garden, Fine Foliage, Modernica Giveaway and a New Blog to Follow
Kicking things off, the UK’s Daily Mail reports on the Chelsea garden show display that was codesigned by Prince Harry in honor of his charity work with AIDS orphans. While I hardly think of the partying royal ginger as a landscape designer, and would give most of the credit to the garden’s creator Jinny Blom,…
-
Succulents Simplified by Debra Lee Baldwin: Designer DIY With the Succulent Queen
If you’ve been around the world of horticulture for any time, you’re probably familiar with Debra Lee Baldwin’s work with succulents. Her first two books, Designing with Succulents and Succulent Container Gardens, are still the most thoughtful, in-depth guides to those topics available. However, both of those books have so much information that you could…
-
Providing Water for Wildlife: How Not to Screw It up
There’s little that irritates me more than going to the garden center and seeing an array of gorgeous, well-made bird baths that are all completely and utterly useless. It seems that the manufacturers of such things have never really researched or even given the most cursory amount of thought to what qualities a bird might…
-
Monday Miscellany: Cost of Landscaping, Fave Shrubs, and Fine Landscape Maintenance
Springtime is always good for gardening, but it’s often not so great for finding rad articles around the web, since most of us gardeners are out and about actually gardening, rather than talking about it. I know that’s been the case for me! But a few sites have bucked the trend and put out some…