White Sage and Bees and our other sage friends

...It has dark green leaves, which is less common than greyish foliage in the native sages. It brings reliable dark green foliage into the garden, and the foliage is powerfully fragrant. If you want to mellow out or soothe sore muscles, you could try throwing a a branch of this in the bath. Our other native sage, Cleveland sage, Salvia clevelandi, lives a harsh existence out in the front of our house, occupying a formerly barren strip of sun baked cl...

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Mulch, mulch, mulch!

...ong them from other plants. I leave those, too. If I pull weeds around the natives, I leave those in place. As a result, my natives are lightly mulched, and seem happy enough about it. Mulching your lawn: Mulching is one of the best ways to kill your lawn. Instead of going through all the trouble of tilling or solarizing, just lay down a layer of cardboard and a super thick layer of mulch and wait. If you’re interested in doing this, check out thi...

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A Neoclassical Native Bee House

...Inspired by the LA Natural History Museum’s bee houses on poles, I dashed off my own version in Sketchup. It’s an homage to Ian Hamilton Finlay. Kelly is supportive but skeptical. I’m hoping it can be a part of the reboot of our front yard, which we’re about to embark on. The plan is to remove unsuccessful plants and make the space more welcoming to wildlife. More on that in later posts....

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Review: Quaker Lower Sugar Instant Oatmeal

...about artificial sweeteners. Diet foods will have a jaunty “With Splenda!” label, but this cereal apparently isn’t being marketed that way. The only indication that you’re dealing with a fake sugar product is in the list of ingredients, which I hadn’t checked. And that was a mistake, I know. When treading the dangerous waters of industrial foodstuffs, you really do have to bring your magnifying glass–and a chemical reference–and read the ingredien...

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