Carnivorous Water Plants
Here is a short video of Utricularia, which is a floating, carnivorous water plant.
Read MoreFarmer Explains Why He Changed to No-till Tractors
No-till agriculture helps stop our huge, hidden erosion issues. There are all sorts of advantages (and a few disadvantages). No-till is a serious change in our food production. I often tell gardeners that even at home, we need to go no-till too. Most of our garden design and installation is no-till. Our little organically managed…
Read MoreGetting Houses Ready for Purple Martins
Believe it or not, they know us. Not just that but they get all happy, they come out and sit on their perches, talking and greeting when they see us coming. Nothing animates a quiet day in the garden like a colony of purple martins. These migratory birds have long lived in association with people. …
Read MoreBulbs for the South & Artist In the Garden
I love when an organization ask me to return for more than one presentation. There’s so much more to say, do, talk about than can happen in the usual one hour format. These two presentations, with a break for lunch couldn’t be more different. But the first builds up to the second; the first is…
Read MoreWhat Lies Within. Why We Planted a Giant Pot of Bamboo.
We’re working with a client who thinks about the big picture in her gardening. Including unpleasant stuff and what happens in the distance; the production and disposal of plants. We’re a perfect fit. I often lament that the “green industry”, which should be a part of the solution, is often a part of the environmental…
Read MoreWinter Cover Crops for Farm, Yard or City Garden.
On the farm, we do all the work by hand; no tractors, no plows, no till. Our crew includes interns, volunteer kids from down the dirt road, city cousins and some well trained farm animals. But we also use plants to do lots of work. All year long, cover crops do the tilling, pest control,…
Read MoreFall Pictures From Beech Island
Gardening is thinking ahead a few minutes, a few months or a few generations. There’s something about this little spot of red dirt, perched on the wooded hills above the river, with Augusta, Georgia, making noise and light in the distance, that helps people find peace and think in generations. Click here to see a…
Read MoreMaking Art with Garden Trash
My grandfather painted. My father made furniture. I make gardens. Three generations of artists, and we have a lot in common. Including waste. The waste of artists has always fascinated me: uniform ends of wood, those squeezed tubes of oil paint, discarded drawings, even sawdust. The waste from gardens enthralls me. It’s fuzzy. The distinction…
Read MorePlanting a Perennial Border for Hospice Cut Flowers
Linda has a cool story. She’s cared for her parents, worked a lot and ready to retire. But not ready to slow down. So she bought a little farm house at the edge of booming suburbs and is planning a cut flower operation– specifically to give cut flowers to local hospice centers. She’s into nutrition,…
Read MoreLilies & Nocturnal Seduction. There’s a word for that and it’s a silly, fun, lovely word…..
As nights warm up, a flashlight reveals the fluttering cloud above dark lily fields. Millions of moths. The crinum lilies invite them. Daytime those moths hunker down in the straw mulch. But something more than shifting light calls them up from below. If you had a slow-motion camera and a fragrance detector, you could see…
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