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I Discovered A New Plant!
6 commentsI'm not exactly Mr. Botany, but the excitement of discovering a new species of plant was almost more than I could stand. At first, the magnitude of my discovery didn’t compute. I at a client’s property dragging a measuring tape with my right hand, scribbling numbers with my left, and video-recording with the other.
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Grocery Gardening - A New Look At Growing Your Own
19 commentsThis new book on growing your own food gets my Cool Green Gardens seal of approval. It not only provides rock-solid information about the science and art of growing your own, but explains how to get their in sustainable style.
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Looking At Green Through Rose Colored Glasses
5 commentsI don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to get my brain around the word green. Who’s to say if a product or service is “eco-friendly” or not? This is part two of my time at the LA Go Green Expo, where I keep my BS-detector on standby.
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Cool Green Expo: Tripping Around LA with Shirley Bovshow
If you're working your way to a more sustainable lifestyle, the Go Green Expo is the place to be. And what better way to spend a Saturday than hanging with Garden World Report's Shirley Bovshow?
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Join Me At The SF Flower & Garden Show This Spring
5 commentsIt's not every day you get to drool over fabulous gardens, meet famous authors, learn from experts and enjoy the camaraderie of like minded gardeners. And all this for $16? You've gotta be kidding.
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When the Fig Leaf Falls, Sensuous Forms Appears
13 commentsAs I scrambled to capture this public display on my camera, images of tattered, torrid romance novels cartwheeled past my mind’s eye. You know, like the paperbacks with the square jawed hero, blond hair blowing Favio-like, poofy pirate shirt ripped to the navel. And always the ravaged, redhead damsel nearly collapsed in his sinewy, suntanned arms.
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When Bad Taste Meets Power Tools
10 commentsWe love to pore over garden articles with luscious pictures of beautiful landscapes. Me, I get a kick out of finding the worst of the worst and holding them up for ridicule. My intention is to provide positive lessons using bad examples – the stuff that either makes you laugh out loud or contemplate gouging your own eyes out. There are so many out there to choose from.
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Don't Turn Up The Thermostat--Look At These Pictures
3 commentsIt's nearly winter in Santa Barbara too, but you wouldn't know it from all of the hot stuff in bloom right now. Our landscapes are bursting with vibrant colors while poinsettias add their scorching red heat to the mix.
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Announcing Book Giveaway Winners! Calhoun Congrats
Meet the three lucky winners of the Designer Plant Combinations book give-away.
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Easy Garden Simulations - Win A Free Design Book!
2 commentsWhat if you could simulate the garden of your dreams using software you already have on your computer? Imagine experimenting with flower and foliage combinations without spending a dime on a single plant or digging a hole? Grab a hot cuppa cocoa and read on...
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Wrapping Up Raleigh - Really!
6 commentsMy September trip to Raleigh NC was a fading memory until I ran across these fab photos of the plants and people who made the visit so special.
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Planting Design Lessons from Raleigh NC
3 commentsBlessing or curse, I find it difficult to look at a garden without awakening the design teacher in my brain. A voice in my head instantly starts deciphering the visual principles in place as if I were explaining the tableau to my students. I imagine it’s no different for a film critic enduring their brother-in-law’s home videos. Join me as I cruise this lovely garden and share a few design ideas you can use in your own garden.
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Win a copy of Designer Plant Combinations!
170 commentsThis book resonates with me on many levels - visually elegant, clearly and buoyantly written and chock full of down-to-earth plant information. You can win your own copy just by leaving a comment about your own garden combos.
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Could YOU Keep A Straight Face? Coyote Pee Interview
6 commentsWelcome to another fun article and interview from my recent visit to the Garden Writers Association trade exhibit in Raleigh, NC. With my nose for news, I sniffed out this promising product, a predator-pee infused pellet that triggers the natural fears of many garden pests, including deer, woodchucks and mice.
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Bovine Biscuits Get a New Lease on Life
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” That is the essence of one of the exhibitors that Kate Frank and I visited in Raleigh last week. Darn! Now I have to delicately bridge the thought of lemonade and cow manure.
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Why Are You Working So Hard? Blow Up Your Rototiller
14 commentsSkip the soil amendment, toss the slow-release fertilizer, make your rototiller into a sculpture. Sustainable landscaping means responding to what nature gives you. Let's start using plants that are adapted to the soil and climate of your yard.
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Computer-controlled Cauliflower? When Software Meets Spinach
5 commentsWouldn't it be totally cool to be a professional futurist? You'd get a paycheck for predicting what the world will look like in a hundred years, then wait for everyone to die before they can tell...
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Irrigation Gizmos & Gadgets -- Part II
4 commentsThe Brainiacs of Irrigation Timers How close are we to living in a Jetson's futureworld? When it comes to irrigation technology, pretty darn close. "Smart controllers" represent the next wave of...
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Irrigation Gizmos and Gadgets - Part I
3 commentsHave you ever looked at the surface of your soil and thought, “Man, that looks dry; I’d better break out the hose”? If so, I envy your moisture-sensing x-ray vision! How else would you explain your super hero ability to know the amount of moisture below the soil just by observing the top 1/16” of crust?
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Part II -- It's Like Road Rage, Only Wetter
18 commentsRoad rage: A motorist's uncontrolled anger usually provoked by the behavior of another driver. The affliction is officially recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. "Water rage," however, is not yet listed. But if it were, I'd probably be the poster child.
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