Lessons from the 2018 Theodore Payne Garden Tour

April 16, 2018

...the stunning stunning Wilson/Leach garden in Altadena (seen above). Native plants gardens in Southern California don’t have to look like a desert! An ad in the back of the tour brochure neatly summed up the vibe: In: Architecture-Enhancing Designs Out: Boring Expanses of Lawn In: Vibrant Climate-Compatible Blooms Out: Stuffy Rows of Annuals In: Lush, Leafy Native Foliage Out: Heat-Amplifying Gravelscape In: Materials that Go with the Flow Out: Sti...

Read…

Backyard and Backwards Beekeeping

Mr. Homegrown

April 16, 2021

Animals, Bees

6 Comments

...nciples-of-beekeeping-backwards.365763/ Xerces society: for information on native bees and how to provide habitat. https://www.xerces.org/ YouTube Backwards Beekeepers how-to videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL23D3FtWNSvrs1NDKjpDWolmVfDgcJTKX Books Save the Bees with Natural Backyard Hives: The Easy and Treatment-Free Way to Attract and Keep Healthy Bees by Rob and Chelsea McFarland The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beekeeping...

Read…

Perennial Vegetables

Mr. Homegrown

February 27, 2009

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

13 Comments

...w of the species Toensmeier mentions: artichoke, prickly pear cactus, stinging nettles, crosnes (more on those in another post) and goji berries. Edible Perennials contains growing information for each species offering something for every climate in North America. Up to now many of these plants were hard to find, but growing interest in edible perennials and the power of the internet has brought many of these species into our backyards. See the Mo...

Read…

How to get free mulch

Mrs. Homegrown

May 4, 2015

Gardening

15 Comments

...eeps valuable green matter out of landfills, saves miles on the road and tons of wasted fuel. It provides gardeners with much-needed mulch, which helps build soil, grow beautiful plants and sequester carbon. And it’s all free. What’s not to love? Check out abouttrees.com Or go straight to the Kickstarter page....

Read…

Tolkien and Trees

Mrs. Homegrown

September 8, 2016

Nature Awareness, Thoughtstylings, Trees

6 Comments

...65 To the Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1955 : I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I find human maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals. #83 From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, 6 October 1944: It is not the not-man (e.g. weather) nor man, (even at a bad level), but the man-made that is ultimately daunting and insupportable. If a ragnarök would bum all the slums and...

Read…