It’s true. Most people born in and around the greater Puget Sound area are wimps when it comes to really hot weather. As the thermometer soars and the dog days of summer linger on and on, locals whimper and wilt and scurry indoors to find air-conditioned relief (or a cold shower). Any Midwesterner will tell […]
outdoors
Posted inAround West Sound
Manette to Host Edible Gardens Tour
Has gardening been on your mind but you don’t know where to start? The Manette Edible Garden Tour is one idea. The biannual tour, now in its fifth year, is geared to aspiring local gardeners who wish to learn from Manette’s veteran gardeners, beekeepers, landscapers, arborists, and chicken keepers. The tour, hosted by the Manette […]
Posted inCommunity News
‘Romeo & Juliet’ comes to the Bloedel Reserve Lawn
It’s not every day that you can watch a performance of one of the Bard’s most-popular romantic tragedies under the open skies. In July, William Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” comes to the Bloedel Reserve, where you’ll be able to watch the long feud between the Montague and Capulet families from the comfort of your lawn […]
Posted inGarden
Finding the Furtive Bird of the Forest
If a hiker in a Kitsap forest were to come upon someone looking through a pair of binoculars, it is only natural to ask what he or she is seeing. If the response is “brown creeper,” some people may think the individual is watching an insect. Actually, the brown creeper is a small songbird that […]
Posted inAround West Sound
7 Reasons You Need to Recycle Your “Styrofoam” at STYRORoundup July 7
Expanded, or foamed, polystyrene (EPS), which people usually call Styrofoam, has long been on the radar of the environmentally conscious. Not only does this material take up a lot of space in the landfill, it’s also not biodegradable. And if you’re like many others who love the convenience of online shopping, you know what a […]
Posted inGarden
The Much-Adored Dogwoods Provide Year-Round Interest
When the Kousa dogwoods are in bloom from May to June, the world takes notice. This region needs to turn away from the popular, prone-to-disease, ornamental cherry trees and turn to some great trees such as the Cornus kousa. Imagine walking down a dogwood-lined street when these most-elegant species are in bloom. It would be […]
Posted inGarden
Gardens — Oh, the Stories They Tell
This year’s Gig Harbor Garden Tour is going to tell some enticing stories about gardens and how they came to be. Each garden, no matter how small or large, simple or exquisite, has a story to tell. Now in its 21st year, the Gig Harbor Garden Tour has recruited seven local hosts, who are opening […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
How to Make Your Yard a Haven for Wildlife
Last month, my husband and I visited a small public garden in Southwest Washington called the Wildlife Botanical Gardens. The garden is a project of the NatureScaping organization, devoted to showing homeowners ways to attract birds and other wildlife to their yards by providing reliable sources of food, water, shelter and nesting material. The 3 […]
Posted inGarden
Our State Flower — Pacific Rhododendron
All plants have stories. Perhaps the plant was Grandma’s favorite cut flower. Or it was that green bean variety passed down through generations of family gardeners. Or that pretty veronica whose name you learned on that hike at Mount Rainier. Every kind of plant has meaning to someone and every plant has stories behind it, […]