Category Home & Garden

Back Raised Garden

The back raised garden had a few large shrubs when I arrived–some were bare and one looked a bit sad with droopy dark green leaves. A deciduous fern was fading late in the season and there was a layer of…

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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…

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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…

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Neighborhood Owl

Looks like there’s a resident owl in the neighborhood. Over the last few days, residents posted pics on Nextdoor (a neighborhood community website), sharing their sightings. Here are their photos: The spectacular photo at the top of the post is…

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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…

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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…

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