I love culinary rue* and use a lot of it around fruit trees (supposedly it repels Japanese beetles but I have a plum tree with some thoughts to share on that point.) The smokey blue color is astounding, the shape of the leaves is weird and elegant and unlike anything […]
I love when you can touch plants with your eyes alone. When changed to black and white, texture is still enchanting. Stripping away the distraction of color lets us fully see the forms and understand why those unrelated shapes work together to make each one stand out more. (I’m not […]
One of the front pollinator beds was added in April 2020. At roughly 4′ x 15′, it contains twelve Golden Alexanders (host plants for black swallowtails and food source for a lot of the little solitary bees) and twelve Bottle Gentians, both from Prairie Nursery. There’s a birdhouse at the […]
I set up a whiskey barrel water feature in the dappled shade of the grove every year, using whatever found items we have lying around-old glass lampshades, terracotta pots – whatever allows for the fountain tube to pass up vertically. This year I added a papyrus along with some water […]
Reject climate change despair. We don’t control much beyond ourselves and half the time not even that. We’re just a bunch of pixels in the end. The bad news is: nothing lasts. The good news is: nothing lasts. I’ve been taking welding and soldering classes in order to make water […]
Solomon’s Seal (genus Polygonatum), especially Variegated Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’), native Solomon’s Seal and Giant Solomon’s Seal). Rhizomatous, lankily arching, and elegant like the curves in paisley. The variegated version lives in miserable conditions along the garage. Dry, dark, abandoned. Does it distract from the concrete foundation? Maybe not, […]