Learning to See the Beauty of Nature in Our Gardens
It’s coming up on the 4 o’clock hour, and the sunlight falls soft and golden on the meadow. I walk through the long grass here, admiring how it has formed natural sways, left to its own devices. Tiny wildflowers pop thru the grass. I get down on hands & knees to admire them. I am [...]
“Lone and erect, beneath light’s primal flood, A lily! and pure as any one of you.” - Mallarme One of the most beautiful sights for me in spring, is driving the highways and back roads to work through rural areas and catching a glimpse of a sea of white beneath the just budding trees. I [...]
Spring Wildflowers-Part 2 Last week we looked at some of the early spring wildflowers that can be found in the moist woods throughout the United States and Canada. Many of these wildflowers are known for their beautiful flowers. And then there are the unusual wildflowers, those whose flowers are not always the highlight of the [...]
Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow everyone. Carole Brown has graciously asked if I would like to write weekly for BWG. My answer….Heck yes! So you will see me every Tuesday sharing many of my favorite native plants and critters from my now zone 5b garden in central New York. Spring is rapidly approaching, and the first [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Happy Winter Solstice!! This is the third post in this series on native plants that any gardener can grow and love. First I focused on reliable, hardworking native perennials, and followed that up with native plant alternatives to invasive plants commonly used in gardens. This time I am spotlighting fall natives. With today being the winter solstice, [...]
My dear wildlife gardening friends, Sometimes we have to make tough choices. A favorite woodpecker tree must come down because it is dangerously close to the house; native plants have to be edited because they are too happy in our gardens; or, our gardening budgets won’t stretch to include everything we want to accomplish! I’ve [...]
Ok, I know according to the Gregorian calendar, 2011 is not a leap year, but I recently had a conversation with my sister and remarked that my coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) was finally growing up the recycled PVC pole that I placed next to it some two years ago, when it was first planted in my [...]
One of the things I love the most about our beautiful wildlife garden is taking a few minutes each day to just sit quietly outside and observe. Finches flitting among the fading sunflowers snitching seeds, jays screeching as they swoop to steal the last of the dried corn, chipmunks and mice scurrying among the rock [...]
Do you want to know a secret? Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are very rarely true purple but they always provide a welcome mat for pollinators in the beautiful wildlife garden. The native Purple Coneflower (Zone 3 – 9) is a species in the genus Echinacea and can be found thoughout much of the United States. This beautiful [...]
News from Team Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
