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 […]
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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 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 […]
Posted inGarden
Getting Started with a Pond or Water Feature
Jan Bahr at Roadhouse Nursery on Central Valley Road in Poulsbo is the go-to person for advice on how to construct and maintain water features in home gardens and landscapes. She believes that the most important thing is to do your homework. Start by deciding what features are most appealing, and consider cost along with […]
Posted inGarden
Things to Do This Year at Heronswood
Heronswood, a renowned local treasure owned by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, has many enticements on tap this year for gardeners from near and far. Don’t miss out on all there is to see and do there. Friday Self-Guided Tours The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and the staff at Heronswood invite the public to visit […]
Posted inPeople & Places
A Spa for Your Wild Soul
A chance meeting more than a decade ago was the unlikely beginning of a relationship that today builds confidence and begins transformation for women in an unlikely way. A Spa for Your Wild Soul, women’s kayak journeys, is the creation of Spring Courtright and Maria Cook, two local women on a mission to challenge other […]
Posted inThe Outdoors
Storms impact more just people — Puget Sound suffers, too
Storms have been hitting the South Puget Sound hard over the past few months. We have gotten used to the inclement weather, keeping a rain jacket close at all times and putting on tough faces when rain threatens to cancel plans. We have learned to shrug our shoulders when our glasses get splattered with dewy […]
Posted inThe Outdoors
West Puget Sound Island Could Be Our Own ‘Panama Canal’
What if we could create a West Puget Sound Island, bigger than Whidbey, bigger than either Bainbridge or Vashon — an island that would become a true Mecca for recreational boaters? And what if we could save the ecosystem of Hood Canal in the bargain? Forget “Big Bertha” and the ill-fated (so far) tunnel under […]
Posted inFeatured, Garden
A ‘Forever’ Home and Garden
Lana and Bob Decker live on a secluded hilltop above Wildcat Lake. They’ve created their “forever” home and garden on an idyllic 5-acre piece of land. Bob Decker was a lifelong Alaskan and Lana moved to Alaska in 1981. They married in 1989, bought a fixer-upper and further honed their gardening skills since both were […]