neonic dangers, with the american bird conservancy’s hardy kern

NOBODY WANTS to get the IRS notice in the mail that they’re being audited, heaven forbid. But when it comes to gardens, Rodney Eason believes that the occasional audit is a very positive process, and encourages us to perform one on our own landscape.

Jasmit Singh Rangr, a Berkeley-based architect, founder of Rangr Studio, and a lecturer in architecture at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, is technically responsible for building his family’s stylish, minimal, cost-conscious home near the Grizzly Peak summit in the Berkeley Hills. But the behind-the-scenes mastermind who made it possible is his wife, Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice, a nonprofit, public interest environmental law firm. Anyone familiar with the area’s cutthroat real estate market won’t be surprised to hear that the search for a vacant, buildable lot in one of the most coveted neighborhoods in the West required Dillen to use all of the skills that make her a great lawyer: creativity, a knack for analysis and research, perseverance, and the art of persuasion.

Welcome to an exploration of flowers that start with the letter “B”. From the stunning Begonia to the vibrant Bluebell, this list covers a wide range of flowers, each with its own unique charm.

Summer is here—the perfect time to go outside and enjoy all the work you’ve put into your garden. Unfortunately, summer also comes with plenty of unwelcome guests. There are birds that eat seeds, bugs that leave holes in leaves, and rodents that steal fruits and vegetables.

Collaborative post

Collaborative post

WHAT’S ONE of the best sources of inspiration and information about gardening you can get outside of a classroom, and that is also wonderfully entertaining? By making time to go visit other people’s gardens, we can open ourselves up to lots of learning. And on the flip side of that equation, opening our own gardens to visitors can be a pretty educational experience, too.

There’s nothing like the clean lines of freshly cut grass. But, what if we told you skipping your final step of bagging those grass clippings can actually help you grow lusher, thicker grass—and at no additional cost to you? Allowing your mower to leave behind grass clippings can have a variety of benefits for your lawn.

For the ultimate in low-maintenance planting, intersperse small balls of box with a seasonal display of bulbs and summer bedding: tulips in spring, geraniums in summer and winter pansies in autumn — or almost any annuals that take your fancy.

Most fruits have seeds lodged deep within their fleshy innards. But Mother Nature loves her exceptions! Read on to learn about those peculiar fruits that appear to have seeds on the outside.

This photo shows European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet floating with 1.2 million tomato seeds that launched to the ISS on 19 February 2017.

If you’d asked me a decade ago how I fare with houseplants, I would have told you, without question, the answer is horrible. Every plant I brought home seemed to die, no matter what.