Once I ripped out the roses, my front yard improved. It’s only taken 5 years.
I hate gardening. There, I’ve said it. Flame me, roll your eyes. Go ahead. I don’t care. I find zero satisfaction down on my increasingly creaky knees digging among the crawlies and worms, wearing a crazy-lady hat with a net, sprayed [...]
Add color to outdoor water features with seasonal flowers.
Consider the water your canvas and create a formal mood for your event by displaying elaborate designs or, keep it casual with a few simple petals tossed randomly on the water. I find floating flowers so beautiful and calming, I keep a birdbath filled throughout summer with [...]
House numbers are an important feature that rarely get much attention.
The address sign at the bottom of our driveway is in disrepair and our house numbers are fading away. As I think about what to do, the surprise is how much thought this update really requires.
Obviously, addresses range from home-improvement-store plain to stylish and personalized. [...]
The most beautiful element of a covered porch is open air
This is prime time for living outdoors – weeks when we can sit back, take a breath and admire the results of all the digging and planting done in the Spring. One of the best vantage points is the shade of a covered porch. The [...]
While the calendar has resolved the threat of another fierce snowstorm causing damage to the trees we love at our house in the woods, we were very concerned about what would happen to the large flowering plum in our front yard [above]. That tree had every single limb cracked or broken open from the weight [...]
When it comes to plants, I am attracted to blues, white, pinks and yellow. No red or orange is allowed.
If you were to ask me what is my favorite season, without a doubt I would answer fall, but spring comes in at a very close second. This time of year, everything is covered in [...]
At our house in the woods, the heavy February snows began on Wednesday and didn’t end until Saturday. I knew a tree had fallen across the driveway and that Russell, who plows for us, had moved it out of the way. I wasn’t prepared for the state of our flowering plum tree out in front. [...]
The days are longer and the weather is superb here in California. I’ve been sprucing up the yard, pruning, raking and planting summer annuals because outdoor entertaining is on the agenda. If you’ve been browsing the latest catalogs or online shopping sites, then you know how popular outdoor decorating has become.
Rugs made of recycled [...]
Gardens and plants always look brilliant to me, especially views from my 12th Floor apartment window of beautifully landscaped terraces, or photos of amazing gardenscapes online. For many years, I lived on 20, with south and eastern exposures, and managed to keep an orchid plant alive and blooming plus a pot of basil going (thought [...]
