The garden of Gretchen Lee is filled with delights for the senses. It exudes peacefulness in many areas but also includes raucous, gleeful rampages of colorful plants in others. She has created garden rooms throughout the landscaping surrounding her home in Hansville. When Lee and her husband, Bill, purchased their home and moved in during […]
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Posted inGarden
Aquatic Plants For Your Water Gardens
Water gardening provides one more way for gardeners to add plants to their environment. Selecting these aquatic plants requires the same thoughts and elements as regular garden plants. How much light will the plant receive? “The sunnier the spot, the better” is a good rule to follow, but there are aquatics suitable for shade and […]
Posted inGarden
A Gardener’s Take on Dr. Seuss
Welcome to the Dr. Seuss-inspired garden of Ron Gillespie. “When I think of Dr. Seuss, I think of fluffy things, and I think of tall things that stick out, and weird-shaped branches,” Gillespie says. Gillespie, a retired history teacher and school administrator, is a native of Bremerton. His father was a music director in the […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
Enjoying a Year-Round Edible Landscape
The garden is changing every day this time of year. Plants respond quickly to warming temperatures, the soil is still moist from frequent spring showers. The chores pile up quickly, tugging at us from every garden corner and flowerbed. At times like these, I am very thankful for all the tasks that were taken care […]
Posted inGarden
Fuchsias for Every Garden
If you remember hardy fuchsias in grandma’s backyard, you know that they have been grown for a long time in our maritime climate. Originally native to South America and New Zealand, many fuchsias are in local display gardens, including one in front of the Poultry Barn at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds that is maintained by […]
Posted inAround West Sound
Gardening with the Health of Puget Sound in Mind
The temperate weather of Western Washington and the long growing season create a gardener’s paradise. This year, due to unusually warm temperatures, I have found myself out in the garden early, visiting with my plant friends that have lain dormant all winter. I spy a young asparagus pushing up, masses of rhododendrons in bloom and […]
Posted inAt Home
Rhubarb!
Unfurling its lush, ruffled leaves while strong stalks blush to a deep pink, rhubarb calls us to savor the strong, tart, acidic taste of a healthy spring tonic. Technically rhubarb is a vegetable, but because it is typically combined with sugar and eaten as a dessert in the United States, the USDA considers rhubarb a […]
Posted inGarden
Llama Rose Farm and Gardens Reblooms as Empress Hill
The five-star wedding venue Llama Rose Farm and Gardens woke to the New Year with a new name. Like a monarch butterfly emerging transformed to spread its wings, the rustic-elegant venue unfolds a new identity — Empress Hill. The new name resonates with promise. And aren’t promises what weddings are all about? History On the […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
The More Plants in the Yard — the More Birds
The importance of a heavily planted yard can’t be emphasized too much when it comes to attracting birds. All of the plants do not have to provide food for them. Food is just one of four needs for sustaining bird populations. Like all wild creatures, birds need food, water, nesting habitat and protective cover. We […]