Top Six California Native Plant Performers

Between Kelly’s aortic episode and my mom’s passing, gardening took a back seat during the past six months. As a result, our yard doesn’t exactly look like Versailles. I’m thankful Kelly had the foresight, before our family emergencies, to reduce the amount of fussy annuals and increase the number of California native plants. While no garden is ever “zero maintenance,” some plants, such as these six California natives can survive with less care....

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Saturday Tweets: Gardens, Grilled Cheese and Infinite Chocolate Chip Cookies

...39;s magical layering @GreatDixter pic.twitter.com/3KWwuQIRYQ — Luciano Giubbilei (@L_Giubbilei) June 6, 2017 This week's #HDYGG is forest gardener Warren Carter of @mfgwp. Interview: @BadlyBehavedOne https://t.co/JcFF5rj5VY pic.twitter.com/cOkJp92NPE — Guardian gardening (@guardiangardens) June 10, 2017 Cool! RT @nprfood: An Illustrated Guide To Master The Elements Of #Cooking — Without #Recipes https://t.co/WCm2bur9hX — UC Food Observer (@uc...

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Worst of NextDoor

...nity is somehow more “open minded” than other parts of the country or that urban people are more progressive than rural people. These are stereotypes that I’ve been guilty of harboring in the past. We are all, myself included, easily sucked into the sort of hateful trolling that Silicon Valley has found a way to monetize on social media. How do you keep people glued to a website like NextDoor? Just offer the spectacle of your elder neighbors teari...

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For the Locals . . .

On that foot sign Alissa Walker, one of my favorite journalists, covers urban design here in Los Angeles. She wrote a great piece on our nieghborhood’s iconic podiatrist sign. Walker agrees with me that we need much more than kitschy signs to mark our neighborhoods. She concludes, We need more reminders of what history predates our presence. We need more streets that are designed to connect us instead of being fast-forwarded through in cars. We n...

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Life in a Pandemic

...future holds. There are simply too many variables to know what will happen in the coming months. Will we have another wave infections? Will governments bail out corporations or individuals? Will we have a recession or depression? Will there be a revived interest in urban homesteading or will we go back to shopping and consuming? I’m wary of suggesting a silver lining in this crisis. For many, around the world, it will just be awful. I’m curious ho...

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