Beautiful Native Plants
A Tree and a Missed Opportunity
Today, January 20, 2012 is Florida Arbor Day, a day for revering trees and a great day for planting trees in our state. Unfortunately, Floridians are not in a particularly celebratory mood this week. One of the world’s oldest trees (said to be the 5th oldest), a resident of Florida for purportedly 3500 years (not… [Continue Reading]
Planning a Butterfly Garden
Photo courtesy of Las Pilitas nursery The Pasadena Rose Parade is behind us now, but the weather it is famous for remains: clear, sunny skies and short-sleeve temperatures. January, what better time for the California native gardener to start a new Wildlife Garden! In reflecting on last year’s garden, I have decided that I don’t… [Continue Reading]
Dreaming and Designing
January in the Rockies is cold, sometimes snowy, and definitely non-gardening weather. It’s too early to start seeds in the sunroom, the ground is too frozen to dig in, and while many parts of the country have beautiful blooms already, the gardens here are happily sleeping. My gardening fingers are itching to do something plant… [Continue Reading]
Falling for Favorite Natives-Part 2
Well it’s a New Year and I hope your New Year’s Day was wonderful. In thinking about planning for the new year’s garden, I offer you Part 2 of my fall favorite native plants. You can read about Part 1 if you missed the post. There are some tried and true natives in the list,… [Continue Reading]
Doug Tallamy Says Bring Nature Home to Your Wildlife Garden
Talk to anyone who speaks, writes, or teaches about creating welcoming habitats for wildlife in our gardens, and sooner rather than later they will mention Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy. This book has become the “bible” for wildlife gardeners everywhere. Doug Tallamy clearly shows in this book how native plants form the basis of… [Continue Reading]
Beautiful Wildlife
When Birds Recycle
I was out and about on Sunday, cleaning up after the dogs and looking for wildlife of interest. January is not always the best time of year to find things, but Florida has experienced a relatively warm winter and spring is in the air so we have our fair share of resident wildlife meandering around…. [Continue Reading]
Counting Birds in the Garden
I could not have guessed how timely this post would turn out to be. I thought, I’ll get a head start promoting the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). After all we want to see more birds in the garden. But who would have guessed that while I was gazing out my window this past gray… [Continue Reading]
Feels Like the First Time
[Guest post by Jan Bills] “For me the only things of interests are those linked to the heart” ~Audrey Hepburn When I read the email from Carole asking if I would like to write a guest post for her highly regarded, well-respected website, I nearly dropped my teeth! Me, I thought to myself. I am… [Continue Reading]
It’s a Worm…It’s a Slug… It’s a WHAT?
My head is ready to explode since I’m still reeling from this week’s debacle involving the partnering of National Wildlife Federation with Scotts Miracle Gro. In order to regain my sanity, it is time to revert back to enjoy the oft-unexpected findings in my Beautiful Wildlife Garden. New critters always clear my mind…once I figure… [Continue Reading]
A Mask Does Not a Bandit Make
It was the wee hours, yet I was awake. I glanced at the glass doors to the deck .. did I see eyes? Yes, I spied two yellow eyes. And.. there was a face attached. I could make out a face with a mask! The face moved away quickly as I slid open the door. … [Continue Reading]
Beautiful Insects
In Praise of Bugs: The White Pine Weevil
[Guest post by Sue Sweeney] The white pine weevil (Pissodes strobe) seems as good a candidate as any to start a national native bug appreciation day movement. Chances are you’ll be much more likely to see this critter’s work than the critter, which may be a good thing seeing that the bug is an ugly as an… [Continue Reading]
Killer in Our Midst…The Assassin Bug
Inspired by team member Ursula Vernon’s Monday post, I set out to find one edge of my patio. Overgrown with Bidens alba that gave out to the 2 hours freeze we experienced recently, I began to pull out the spent plants from the roots. B. alba can really be considered an annual and will… [Continue Reading]
Planning a Butterfly Garden
Photo courtesy of Las Pilitas nursery The Pasadena Rose Parade is behind us now, but the weather it is famous for remains: clear, sunny skies and short-sleeve temperatures. January, what better time for the California native gardener to start a new Wildlife Garden! In reflecting on last year’s garden, I have decided that I don’t… [Continue Reading]
Falling for Favorite Natives-Part 2
Well it’s a New Year and I hope your New Year’s Day was wonderful. In thinking about planning for the new year’s garden, I offer you Part 2 of my fall favorite native plants. You can read about Part 1 if you missed the post. There are some tried and true natives in the list,… [Continue Reading]
Wildlife Coming Out Party!
I’m always amazed at how nature does its thing. The other day I was out and about and stopped by an area of Shyleaf (Aeschynomene americana) to see what was “cookin”. There are a few Green Lynx Spiders with egg sacs and I patiently await the miracle of birth. I was thrilled to see a… [Continue Reading]
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