A NUMBER OF YOU HAVE WRITTEN in expressing concerns for the welfare of my various and sundry frogboys now that cold temperatures are upon us. No worry, they are tucked safe inside my new custom copper-trimmed tissue dispenser (above). OK, so that’s a big fat lie, but can you believe how gorgeous it is? And do you really want to know where the (frog)boys are? Read on.
The less scientific part first: When I picked up my mail Friday, there was a box from Shandell’s, a store not far from me whose owner, Susan Schneider, makes astonishing lampshades out of vintage wallpaper and handmade papers and fabrics…or at least that’s her primary business. I was expecting a lampshade I’d ordered not long ago, but unless she’d dehydrated it, no way my big shade was in that little Priority Mail box.
Susan’s business motto is: “Things that make you smile,” and she could not be more correct. Imagine how big my smile was when out of the mystery box came her surprise, no-special-occasion gift: my own custom tissue-box cover, made from decoupaged, downloaded images of my dollface frogboys from A Way to Garden, where Susan is a regular visitor. You can have a memory box of your own images, too (or maybe of the frogboys someday if Susan and I can just locate their slippery talent agent, who apparently is submerged in the back pools with the boys or otherwise unavailable at present to negotiate usage rights).
Yes, that’s where the boys spend the winter–underwater–unless there’s a prolonged thaw or they need a very infrequent gulp of air and come to the surface (looking, frankly, stoned out of their minds). Frogs have no way to keep warm otherwise, so they go into a state of hibernation below the frost line, such as at the bottom of a body of water,
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We’ll soon be trading in lazy summer days for long nights of studying. So, it’s important to make sure you have a space to ease you into back-to-school season. There are lots to consider when setting up the perfect study area: you want a space that’s organized, helps you focus, and feels comfortable (and stylish) enough to sit around for hours.
An initiative of The Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) started 14 years ago, National Maintenance Week is a drive to raise awareness among owners of all kinds of buildings, not just ancient and period homes, about the importance of regular care and prevention of any damage that time and weather can cause.
Your lawn is a crucial part of the beautiful landscape of your outdoor space. That’s why you have to do your best in caring for your lawn. Achieving a lush and healthy lawn is more straightforward than it may seem, even if you are a beginner. Several lawn care aspects must be considered for maintaining a beautiful and green lawn.
Whether you're revamping a certain space within your home or are moving into a brand new house, you may be wondering how to best select a color palette for a given room.
When deciding upon which trees and shrubs to plant in the landscape, I always suggest that gardeners consider plants that offer more than one season of interest. This aspect of consideration is usually not taken into account by most of the people that I speak with, but it certainly should. Especially since there are so many great trees and shrubs that help to brighten up the often-dreary winter landscape. There are several shrubs that flower in winter, some that display vibrant fruit, have interesting form or beautiful bark.
For small seedlings that have stems too small to grab with your hand, try using a pair of channel-lock pliers. They are adjustable, so you can grab a long section of stem with the teeth. Use gentle tugs to loosen before pulling out of the soil.
Not so many years ago, most nurseries only carried the old-fashioned classic we call Pee Gee, for H. paniculata ‘Grandiflora’ (above), with giant conical trusses of white flowers in July that fade to pink and tan as autumn approaches. Perhaps you have a tree form? It’s the kind of plant often “inherited” along with older houses, and I love passing big ones at nearby farms and gardens at this time of year.Lately, though, as with so many other plants, there’s a proliferation of available cultivars of panicle hydrangeas, and I have tried many good ones: ‘Kyushu,’ ‘Pink Diamond,’ ‘Unique,’ ‘Limelight’ (an unusual recent color break with greenish flowers), and more that I cannot even bother to r
Now before you go thinking dirty thoughts about my wood frog friends up in the top photo, who by the way quack like ducks to my ear, know this:They are simply engaged in amplexus (doesn’t that sound tame and scientific?), in which the male (in this species the smaller frog) clasps the larger female around the back. This goes on for some time, and they don’t seem to be one bit shy. The embrace began right out at poolside, where 15 other frogs were sunning themselves, including the few in the background of the photo below. Eventually the
GARDENING WITH SKUNKS isn’t a phrase that rolls off the tongue, the way “…with deer,” or “…with rabbits” might. But here at A Way to Garden, outsmarting awakening skunks is one of spring’s first challenges.