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 […]
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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 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 inHome
Magical Rocky Beach Retreat
Back in the ’50s, Dennis Jacobson’s family vacationed in a rented cabin less than a mile down the road from the retirement home where he and his wife, Betty, live. He knew then he wanted to live right on the water someday. As his career unfolded in the flat lands of the Midwest, he had […]
Posted inGarden
The Joy of Exploring the Hidden Gardens of Bainbridge Island
When I first visited the home we ended up buying on Bainbridge Island, the owners excitedly told me that their garden had been on the 2016 Bainbridge in Bloom garden tour. This clearly was the attribute they wanted to pitch more than the number of bedrooms or kind of kitchen stove. And it worked. My […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
Manage Water where it Falls for a Healthier Landscape and Environment
Too much, not enough, and never when you need it. This is a common complaint of gardeners. Keeping and using water where it falls is the first step in managing this precious resource. Planting and maintaining a healthy landscape is a good place to start. Trees, shrubs, ground-covers and other plantings improve water quality and […]
Posted inGarden
The Garden of Peggy and Bill Fox
The power of a well-designed landscape is magical. But the long, narrow piece of grassy land sloping quickly toward the waterfront offered little magic to the imagination of Peggy and Bill Fox when they first laid eyes on the property in 1987. The home was a simple, dark rambler with small windows that seemed to […]
Posted inGarden
The Brothers Greenhouses
The canaries know it’s spring at the Brothers Greenhouses, located on SW Victory Drive in Port Orchard. For more than 15 years, birds have resided in this retail nursery attached to working greenhouses. Oscar was one of the original birds, earning that name because of his Oscar-Award-worthy singing performances. The birds are delightful. You will […]