Welcome to the dark side. Almost every new gardener wants a garden full of flowers. Usually the flowers on their wish list come from plants that need full sun. And tomatoes — almost everyone wants to grow tomatoes. Yet it is going to be impossible to grow a decent tomato in a shady garden. Sorry. […]
Garden
Many interesting and delightful gardens abound in our area — how fun to glimpse into a gardener’s back yard (or even front yard). Enjoy gardens from Gig Harbor, Port Orchard, Bremerton, Central Kitsap, and the North end of Kitsap including Bainbridge Island. These articles are only a sample of what we have in West Sound Magazine each issue — subscribe to the print version today to see all of what we have to offer!
Posted inGarden
The Magic of Fletcher Bay Gardens
The garden of Nick and Marj Masla represents the best of the lives of the Masla family. This beautiful garden is the culmination of three decades of growing a passion for flowers, creating a retreat, building businesses tied to the bounty of the garden and nurturing a family with strong ties to the land. The […]
Posted inGardeners Corner
How to Create a ‘Living’ Wall from Guttering
Editor’s note: This blog post is an adapted excerpt from Max McMurdo’s “Upcycling Outdoors” book, which explains the basic of good outdoor design using scrap items, and includes a variety of step-by-step projects. When you have limited outdoor space, it’s great to create as many planting opportunities as you can. Vertical planting, intended to produce […]
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 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 […]
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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 […]
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The Orchard Mason Bee
The orchard mason bee, also known as the blue orchard bee, is the Western native pollinator that appears each year in late winter and early spring to pollinate the early-blooming fruit trees and flowers. Its scientific name, Osmia lignaria propinqua Cresson, describes the insect order to which it belongs and also includes ants, bees and […]
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 […]
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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, […]