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Bugger Off, Stink Bugs by Allen Bush
Armadillos have reached southern Kentucky, while the Asian longhorn beetle is poised just across the Ohio River in southern Ohio. Both are on the march to Louisville. The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) got here first. Armadillos (possums on the half-shell) root around like feral hogs and make a mess of gardens. The Asian longhorned [...]
Book trailer for Lawn Gone!
Even books get trailers now, not just movies. So to help publicize my upcoming book, I made this trailer for Lawn Gone! over the weekend and uploaded it to YouTube. I hope you like it! If you do, please feel free to share it with your friends. Show More Summary
Marijuana growers and users “fired up,” too! by Susan Harris
Marijuana’s Going Legal Hard to believe, but America’s long prohibition against marijuana may be coming to an end, at least in places like Colorado and Washington State, both of which voted this week to legalize pot. And that’s for recreation, not for any medical purpose, real or phony. In 16 other states and D.C. marijuana [...]
Wonderful Winter Squashes
Happiest fall greetings and welcome to Plant Whatever Brings You Joy (and a fresh new look!). As promised I'm going to continue sharing the wealth of information I gathered from Ann, whom I met at the farmer's market, who has a wonderful organic farm in Mendocino County. I was just astounded that she knows so [...]
Wilson Pickett and the Pink Rose
I owe my love of pink flowers to Wilson Pickett. The rhythm and blues singer was my high school cosmic everything. Teenage boys often feel they are irrelevant. Or at least they once did. In the mid-60s, I played a white soul man to prove the point. When I was fifteen years old, I stared [...]
Watch! Espoma’s brutal take-down of Scotts
Over on the SafeLawns blog Paul Tukey calls this ad “ballsy” and says it was the talk of Chicago at the recent Independent Garden Center Show. I bet! I used to just like Espoma; now I’m their biggest fan.
Louie, Season 3
Everyone knows that whenever Robin Williams plays a serious role, he sports a beard. So when the stand-up-turned-Oscar-winner walked, bewhiskered, into a black-and-white shot of a graveyard, I figured within minutes Williams would be hugging C.K. and saying, “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.”
Who Is That Masked Man?
The Google+ “Hangouts” feature launched back in June 2011, providing a forum where up to 10 people (or, in rare cases, Muppets) can join together for a group video chat. In March of this year, Google debuted about 200 apps meant to enhance the Hangouts experience. Show More Summary
Colorful front garden instead of lawn in Mueller neighborhood
If you’ve always thought bigger is better where a garden is concerned, think again. This week I spent a little time in East Austin’s Mueller neighborhood, a planned community (on the site of Austin’s old airport) built to encourage a sense of community with houses close to the street, small lots, and neighbor-friendly front porches. [...]
The New Sunset Book is Here!
I feel like this every time a new edition of the Sunset Western Garden Book arrives. (I wish I could just embed that video--that would be so awesome--but copyright protections are just so sophisticated these days. Go watch the first...
A Look Back, A Look Around
The county of Mendocino lies 100 miles north of San Francisco, and stretches out to the Pacific Ocean. Topographically it is very rugged and is traversed through various terrains on two lane roads, some of which run through the oldest redwood forests on Earth. Those who have visited or read about this county are most [...]
Otherworldly beauty at East Austin Succulents
‘Royal Spine’ agave Two nurseries for the price of one. That’s what you get when you visit East Austin Succulents or Tillery Street Plant Co., as I did last weekend. The two nurseries share a spacious lot in East Austin, with Tillery Street’s offerings on display as you walk through the gate and East Austin [...]
Bold form for February Foliage Follow Up
Hot on the heels of Bloom Day, we’re once again celebrating Foliage Follow-Up, praising the oft-unsung hero of all good gardens: plants with beautiful or intriguing foliage. My theme this month is bold foliage. Well, that’s my theme most months, as I have a weakness for plants with a bit of architecture or weirdness. Here’s [...]
"Give (Flowers) and Ye Shall Receive"
Among the buzzed-about Superbowl ads this year is this one from Teleflora. So readers, what do YOU think of promoting flowers because they guarantee sex on Valentine's Night?
One Baby Boomer’s Musical Journey
by Bob Oakes My blogger friend Susan Harris asked me to write a piece on the role of music in my life. I knew Susan in the midst of my formative musical decade: 1963-1973. She and I attended college in Ohio and we backpacked around Europe in the summer of ’69. We were on the [...]
Beautiful No-Mow Yards is just what American gardeners need. And you can win it right here
In the last year or so, we're hearing that there are better uses for our land than turfgrass, that unless it's needed for sport or play, you can save on resources and probably your labor, too, by switching to an...
Persimmon Pudding–an Adventure!
Several weeks ago, just before Christmas, I was delighted when a kindly neighbor showed up at my door bearing a gift of a goodly amount of persimmons in a bag. I LOVE persimmons, so this was quite a treat! However, fortunately or unfortunately, they were all simultaneously fully ripened. Perplexed, I decided to risk freezing [...]
The End of Cred
In the summer of 2008, a photograph surfaced online that showed the Miami rapper Rick Ross, age 19, dressed as a corrections officer, at a corrections-department ceremony, shaking hands with the then-head of the South Florida Reception Center. Show More Summary
Martin Luther King Memorial as Landscape
I recently visited D.C.'s new and long-awaited Martin Luther King Memorial. In the words of its designers, "the entire MLK Memorial is conceived in a landscape tradition, characteristic of other recent memorials, such as the FDR and the Vietnam Veterans...
