Courtyard Garden
When I arrived, the courtyard garden was overly crowded and a bit of a mess. A couple plants dominated the space, making it feel heavy and dark. I’m intent on creating a woodland garden with dappled light–something to provide shade…
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Plum Blossoms
Oddly, it snowed early today–big, fluffy flakes of snow. The weight of it even made the tall clump of bamboo slouch over, which is a new thing. Then, the sun came out, the snow quickly melted, and it felt odd…
Evaluating Sunlight (gardening)
To determine what plants can go where, I performed a sunlight evaluation for all garden zones across the property. On a sunny day, I took photos of each area every hour. I placed those photos in grids to evaluate the…
A Dusting of Snow
It’s been very chilly here in the Puget Sound–dipping into the 20s at night, and hovering around 30s and 40s during the day. I’ve been catching up on some gardening–a little pruning and weed control–and it was so cold, I…
Garden Plans
The previous owners of my property established some very special trees, flowers and shrubs. I’ve enjoyed the profusely blooming blue hydrangea, delicate climbing rose bushes, bright salmon colored azaleas, and various ornamental maples. There are others I have yet to…
Early Buds & Garden Clean-up
New buds are starting to appear around the property. Most of the plants are still dormant, but bright green shoots have come up in the front, tiny leaves are appearing on some of the small trees, and I noticed flower…
Christmas in the Neighborhood
In the afternoon on Christmas Day, I put on my boots and walked down my street. A few neighbors had Christmas lights up and trees in their windows and my neighbor shared a photo of a snowman from around the…
Niko’s First Snow Experience
This Christmas Day is the first time Nicholas has even been near snow, so I opened the back door and let him check it out. He normally avoids the cold, so I was surprised to see him walk outside and…
My First White Christmas
Christmas Eve came with soft snowfall late in the day–so delicate, it was almost undetectable. It persisted through the night and I woke to a magical landscape of sparkly white, lightly piled on every surface. Each tree limb, leaf and…
Foraging Birds
Can you spot the bird in the photo above? If not, don’t worry, you’re in good company. I noticed sporadic movement on the ground outside my window one afternoon, but couldn’t see what was causing it. It wasn’t like leaves…