Space Science with Marshall Porterfield (GotG57)

AS SHE OFTEN DOES, naturalist and nature writer Nancy Lawson—perhaps known better to some of you as the Humane Gardener after the title of her first book—caught my attention the other day.

Q: I have a winter flowering jasmine, growing profusely on a 3m-high north-facing wall. For most of its six years, it has produced an abundance of flowers, from early November until March. During the recent summer, I took a lot of its stems, which had bunched at about 2m, and gently stretched them out along a series of horizontal wires. This November I can only see a handful of flowers (less than 10). Did my gentle summer manipulation cause this drop in flowers and if so, how? CD, Co Dublin

TikTok has a new design theory on the rise: anyone whose couch doesn’t touch their walls is living in luxury. Having your couch in the middle of the room, according to many TikTok users, is the mark of an expensive home.

If there’s one thing celebrity recipes are guaranteed to do, it’s spark a (lightly-controversial) conversation in the comments of their social media. Reese Witherspoon did just that after she shared a new creation with the world on TikTok January 18: a mug of snow mixed with cold brew topped with salted caramel and chocolate drizzle.

Winter is, broadly speaking, the ideal time to prune most trees and shrubs.

Aloe has many benefits — it's a natural remedy for sunburn, promotes skin health, and aids in wound healing. Use it for hair care, acne treatment, and as a makeup remover. But that's not all, it's for improving digestion, soothing minor burns, and repelling insects. You can create homemade lip balms and hand sanitizers with its gel, too. With potential health advantages like blood pressure regulation and immune system boosting, aloe is a versatile plant. Read more below!

Header image by Md Asif from Pixabay

Pressure treated wood is created by forcing chemical preservatives into the wood cells. These preservatives- creosote, pentachlorophenol and chromated copper arsenate salts – help make the wood resistant to decay by curbing fungus and insect attacks.

DAVID CULP is a self-professed Galanthophile, a lover and passionate, longtime collector of snowdrops in all their various incarnations. He’s also a host of the annual Galanthus Gala symposium, which happens the first weekend of March in Downingtown, PA, and virtually online, too, for those of us who want to join in without even leaving home, as I did last year, and will again this time around.

Warmth on the skin feels good physically, but a warmly decorated home? A treat for the eyes and soul. 

Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt must be doing something right—they are one of the few success stories from The Bachelor franchise, now happily married and living together in New York City.

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