Covering Ground
Drip, drip, drip goes the permeable paving
Permeable paving has been around for a few years and examples were many at the New England Grows conference I attended on February 6 & 7. (They were right alongside some other water-savvy innovations such as green roofing and living walls.) Permeable paving is simply a surface that lets water soak through rather than run off.
Go Native, Go Botany
One of my current design projects is a lakeside garden of native shrubs and perennials. Several online resources have proved very helpful, but one of the best new resources to come along in the past year is Go Botany.
Stop & Smell the Herbs...in February
Who says you can't smell the herbs in February? This weekend, I used all of these--sage, savory, lavender, leeks--and they were all all highly aromatic at 22 degree F.
Book Review: "Dr. Mel's Connecticut Climate Book"
Dr. Mel Goldstein was a much-loved Connecticut weather reporter and meteorologist whose humorous touch and insightful forecasting endeared him to state audiences. He passed away in January 2012, a year after I read this book. If he's watching us from his beloved clouds, he's probably less surprised than most at the megastorms that have visited in the past few years.
Book Review: "Bringing Nature Home"
What is a native plant, really? Why should we care? And what should be done about the undeniable fact that many, many nonnative, invasive plants are taking up the ecological niches of native plants worldwide?
Going to Gungywamp
What, where, or who is Gungywamp? To the ear, it is a funny name, half-Suessical and half-Germanic. The name is actually derived from the Pequot language, as the Pequot Indians lived here for a time. They were immigrants, of a sort, from upstate New York in the centuries just before European arrival.