Layers in the Winter Garden

Layering is a way of life here in the Pacific Northwest where on any given day, regardless of the season, you may be reaching for a fleece jacket one minute and peeling down to a T-shirt the next. As I looked outside early this morning the sun was just beginning to rise over the tree…

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Planning Fabulous Fall Combinations

Stop what you're doing for a moment, look out of the window, and take a long, hard look at your fall garden.  What do you see? I'm sure there are individual trees or shrubs that are breathtaking, but are they shown off to their best advantage? Do they read as random sparks here and there,…

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Life and Gardening After Slugopocalypse

Anyone else feel as though this year has got away from them? In theory, my garden should be magnificent this year since I haven't been traveling. Somehow that's not my reality. Between a biblical plague of slugs that is STILL ongoing, crazy wet weather in spring (summer didn't even start until about a week ago)…

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A Garden to Grow Into

It was the all too familiar scenario; a charming new home with a small, non-functional back garden. With a patio barely big enough to accommodate the BBQ and a lawn that was saturated for much of the year there was nowhere to sit and enjoy a family meal, let alone a spot for a child…

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On Trial For You: 8 New Deer-Resistant Shrubs

I'm always excited to see new plants come on the market that offer a new color, shape or size from existing varieties. Yet so often I am faced with the reality that I can't grow them here because of the deer. (And yes those darn rabbits too). Feel the same way? Well I've got some…

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