The art of crafting a garden is one of the most fulfilling and sometimes hair pulling endeavors to embark upon. Clean lines, starting small and including plants you love is a good place to begin. But when choosing plants count on the emotional takeover of the five f’s: flowers, fragrances, flavors, fauna and family. They [...]
Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category
April 4, 2013 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Botanical Moment, Nature, Profiles
Social Tagging: Garden • Why do you garden?
Filed under: Botanical Moment, Nature, Profiles
Social Tagging: Garden • Why do you garden?
July 22, 2012 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, DESIGN, DISCOVER, Habitat, Inspired, Nature, Perspective, Planting
Social Tagging: Plant a Tree • The Queen's Jubilee • Woodland Trust
Filed under: BEE, DESIGN, DISCOVER, Habitat, Inspired, Nature, Perspective, Planting
Social Tagging: Plant a Tree • The Queen's Jubilee • Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is a British organization aiming to save and restore forest lands of the UK. Only 2% of Britain’s ancient woodlands remain. Their latest project, under Queen Elizabeth’s guidance, is to plant 6 million trees as a lasting tribute in honor of the Queen’s Jubilee. The Jubilee Woods will transform the landscape of [...]
February 29, 2012 by Emily Murphy · 1 Comment
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, Critters, DISCOVER, Grow, Native, Nature
Social Tagging: Discovering Native Plants • Easy to Grow Drought Tolerant Plants • Edible Perennials • Gardening with Nature • Permaculture • Plants for Beauty and Food • Soapwort
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, Critters, DISCOVER, Grow, Native, Nature
Social Tagging: Discovering Native Plants • Easy to Grow Drought Tolerant Plants • Edible Perennials • Gardening with Nature • Permaculture • Plants for Beauty and Food • Soapwort
The oddest thing happened. I was on a perfectly lovely trail run near the headlands when bits of partially eaten plants and plant parts began littering the path in front of me. Roots, fibers and leaves that looked strangely like those of a bulb appeared frantically strewn about, the remains of what appeared to be [...]
October 27, 2011 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Garden Love, Nature
Social Tagging: Fall Maples • Seasons and Me • Seasons Frame Seasons • Winter Garden Preparation
Filed under: BEE, Garden Love, Nature
Social Tagging: Fall Maples • Seasons and Me • Seasons Frame Seasons • Winter Garden Preparation
The crazy, inexplicable tug of fall is here. I love it. In fact, I’m in a quandary. For all my love of spring and my need for green, I must say, I couldn’t do it without fall (and winter for that matter). It would be cheating wouldn’t it? Having only spring and summer weather all [...]
July 5, 2011 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Inspired, Nature
Social Tagging: Louie Schwartzberg • Pollination • Pollinator Garden • The Beauty of Pollination
Filed under: BEE, Inspired, Nature
Social Tagging: Louie Schwartzberg • Pollination • Pollinator Garden • The Beauty of Pollination
I was seven. It was my first summer living alone with my grandmother in the coastal foothills of Sonoma County, in the place I think of as my other home. Wild with the smell of California Bay trees. The bed I shared with Gram made neatly outside, perfect for otherworldly stargazing. Magically book-ending a day [...]
February 3, 2011 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Critters, Ecology, Nature
Social Tagging: Bee Magnate • Bumblebees • Effects of Non-native Plants on Native Plants • Flight of the Bumblebee • Garden Wise • Pollinator Behavior • University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Study
Filed under: BEE, Critters, Ecology, Nature
Social Tagging: Bee Magnate • Bumblebees • Effects of Non-native Plants on Native Plants • Flight of the Bumblebee • Garden Wise • Pollinator Behavior • University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Study
A bumblebee forages on Squaw Carpet, Ceanothus prostratus. Squaw Carpet, also known as Mahala Mat, is one of the first native plants to flower in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada. To see this spring hunt is to witness plunder. Bumblebees zipping around, one flower to the next. Sacks of pollen weighing down hind [...]
November 15, 2010 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, DISCOVER, Ecology, Nature
Social Tagging: 2009 Sundance Selection • 500 Years to Create an Inch of Topsoil • An Historic Event • Dirt! The Movie • Dirt! The Movie Trailer • Documentary Film • love • Organic • Retrievable Resource • Reverence • Soil
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, DISCOVER, Ecology, Nature
Social Tagging: 2009 Sundance Selection • 500 Years to Create an Inch of Topsoil • An Historic Event • Dirt! The Movie • Dirt! The Movie Trailer • Documentary Film • love • Organic • Retrievable Resource • Reverence • Soil
“Dirt!” My soil science professor cringed at the word. “It’s not dirt,” he would say, and then add with great reverence, “It’s SOIL.” 500 years, chemical and physical weathering, growing plants, expanding roots, and busy critters create approximately 1 inch of topsoil. An historic event. I get it.
November 14, 2010 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, DISCOVER, Inspired, Nature, Perspective
Social Tagging: Amelanchier alnifolia • beauty • Change in Seasons • Changing Gardens • Deliberation • Plan For It • Planning Your Garden for the Seasons • Reflection • Ribes sanguineum • Rudbeckia fulgida • Seasonal Interest
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, DISCOVER, Inspired, Nature, Perspective
Social Tagging: Amelanchier alnifolia • beauty • Change in Seasons • Changing Gardens • Deliberation • Plan For It • Planning Your Garden for the Seasons • Reflection • Ribes sanguineum • Rudbeckia fulgida • Seasonal Interest
It always happens this time of year. Like a gentle nudge (or a slap in the face) the seasons change. Jarring awake reflection. Shouting, “Hey, look at me! Check this out!” And there is an inexplicable, human force, along with shortened days, giving cause for deliberation. Here’s what I know about change: 1. It’s [...]