THE LIGHT-HEARTED news from Nowheresville as June begins: I am short on garden help these days and long on frogs. Too bad the latter just lie around having a hot stone massage for hours and hours (above) in between brief bouts of chasing each other frantically for you-know-what. (In frogspeak they call it amplexus.
Sounds sophisticated but it’s just you-know-what.)Um, yes, that’s one of the many around here: a gentleman caller, flocked in some tiny floating plants. The individuals who color up yellow during mating season are the gentlemen, at least among the species greenfrogs, like this guy, and their cousins the bullfrogs. (How to sex a frog.)These two (the same individuals from the top-of-page photo) are still at it.
A week before, she hadn’t yet discovered that his thigh was a dandy pillow, but now she knows. See her nictitating membrane (aka third eyelid)? Like built-in goggles for underwater vision, the membrane then keeps eyes moist when on land. And yes, it’s true; I could just watch frogs all day.
#beatsmowingWhen I am not crawling around communing with frogs, I like foliage a lot, too (more than flowers, even). This copper-leaf plant or Acalypha called Giant Leaf is a favorite (distributed to garden centers by Landcraft Environments, wholesaler source of many gems over many years; thanks Dennis Schrader and Bill Smith).
Most are from places like the South Pacific, and used here as “annuals,” but last year I learned that one of my most common “weeds,” an inconspicuous thing I have in ample supply, is a native Acalypha sometimes called three-seeded mercury that spans more than half the nation, Acalypha virginica (or maybe similar-looking, widespread A. rhomboidea; both occur in my county), and that California has
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Flowers are usually the first things that grab our attention when we are selecting plants to add to our landscapes. However, most plants only flower for a short period of time, so it behooves us to consider plants’ other attributes—and there are many! Sometimes the same flowers that seduced us into opening our wallets are replaced with an amazing fruit display. Colorful fruits of all shapes and sizes can add drama to our landscapes throughout the year. In addition to their visual beauty, many fruits are important sources of nutrition for wildlife, particularly birds. Here are a few examples of awesome plants whose fruit shines in the garden in summer, fall, and winter.
As someone both blessed and cursed with a keen sense of smell, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to lose it. To never again inhale, for example, the sweetness of a rose. To be forced to go without the spicy, spring perfume of witch-hazel, or the fresh-earth scent of newly dug potatoes, or the sharp, vegetal tang of tomato plants softly baking in a hot glasshouse in high summer.
Flowering shrubs can grace your garden, adding color, interest and sometimes fragrance to the home landscape. For the biggest, showiest flowers, you’ll also need to take into account the sun exposure of the garden site. But never fear, there are flowering shrubs for landscaping that like sun and others that like shade.
After 20 years of having a lawn that took, I wanted a yard that contributed: to the planet, to local animals, to biodiversity, to my neighbors, to my mental health. With the sage (native plant pun intended) design work, counsel, and collaboration of David Godshall of Terremoto and David Newsom of Wild Yards Project—and a plant-friendly paint palette from color consultant Teresa Grow—another little garden that gives was born.
It’s well known that the housing market is so competitive right now, but prospective home buyers aren’t the only ones hurting—renters are, too. According to personal finance website WalletHub, inflation has impacted rental prices, and 2022 saw the second-highest price growth in decades with a 6.2% year-over-year increase.
For those who are looking to buy a home for the first time, the feat can seem like quite the hurdle. With housing prices and interest rates still high, and a competitive market, it’s tough out there! And the number of first-time home buyers are dropping, too, because of those high prices—according to personal finance site WalletHub, 26% off home purchases were made by first-time home buyers in 2022, down from 34% the previous year.
The ‘80s film Back to the Future (and its subsequent sequels) are total classics, and while fans will most definitely remember the comedic one-liners, storylines, and iconic characters, there are also some noteworthy architecture and design moments. Doc Brown’s home in the film is the Gamble House in Pasadena, California, a stunning, historic example of the Arts and Crafts movement designed by influential 20th century architects Charles and Henry Greene. Movie fans still flock to the location to take photos and go on tours.
Georgia O’Keefee painted some brilliant portraits of red Poppies some times upto 3 feet wide and high, even bigger than the real thing in my garden.The last photo shows how Red and Green work well together on a canvas or in a garden setting. Oriental poppies are perennial and most Poppy species are easy to grow from seed of which 50 varieties are available from Thompson & Morgan
If you’re well-versed in TikTok food trends—cottage cheese, rat snacks, or boozy pineapple spears, anyone?—you may already know about the recent sushi-related food trend that influencers are trying their hand at: the sushi bake. This riff on the super popular Japanese dish is quick and easy to prepare, making the flavors of sushi much more accessible from home.
Did you know that citrus fruits are one of the only fruits in season during the winter? Not too long ago, the joys of taste-testing some unique citrus fruits was limited to winter, but now we can enjoy many citrus fruits (and their many benefits) all year long. One delicious type of orange that you may not be familiar with is the cara cara orange. A relatively new kid on the block, the cara cara is not only beautiful, but it also has a flavor profile that might just make it your new favorite citrus.