If you live in (most of) Montgomery County MD and own a home, you’ve got access to a tremendous program for managing stormwater and creating native plant habitats. Rainscapes is managed by Montgomery County’s Department of...
Read moreThanksgiving thoughts from Wendell Berry
We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough? – Wendell Berry Thanksgiving moves rapidly from gratitude to gluttony – I pull the last of the pie out for one more breakfast treat, but...
Read moreWe know the WHY. Now we learn the HOW from the Post.
(Sergio Peçanha/Illustration for The Washington Post) Recently, we learned the Why about replacing some of our lawn space with native plantings in a piece by Dan Zak of the Washington Post that featured our own Edamarie Mattei. Now we get the...
Read moreShrink your lawn. Save the planet.
Many thanks to Dan Zak of the Washington Post for the beautifully-written article about Americans’ changing attitudes toward their lawns. Even better, it features our own Edamarie Mattei sharing her thoughts about both her...
Read moreMore Native Plants please!
Thanks to Chris Woody for an excellent article in Sunday’s Washington Post that lays out the case for increasing the native plantings in our garden. Some of the highlights of the article include: The key role native plants play in...
Read moreWater features for birds and humans
John Kelly / The Washington Post Thanks to Washington Post columnist John Kelly for the excellent article about garden water features. We are always thrilled to see how much water features are loved by both our clients and wildlife. Contrary to...
Read more7 New Years Resolutions for your Garden
Hope for the cracking dam With the New Year’s Day high temperature in the DC region expected to be in the 60’s, I walk outside thinking about the environmental changes that global warming and habitat loss engender. How not to feel a little like...
Read moreLeave the leaves (again)!
Leave the leaves….. an altogether new concept for many people to wrap their heads around. Although mother nature has been telling us what to do we insist that we know better. When we remove leaf fall from our gardens we disrupt the...
Read moreCompost tea please!
Did you know that in a single tablespoon of soil there are more soil organisms than there are humans on this planet? Or that there are 5,000 different types of bacteria in a single gram of soil? Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the...
Read moreBackyard Bounty has a new horticulturist!
Dear Backyard Bounty community, Thank you for everything you are doing in your garden to preserve habitat, create beautiful outdoor living spaces, manage stormwater, and increase native plantings. Backyard Bounty is honored to be part of your...
Read moreTime the rethink the American Lawn
Changing turf to habitat under a large tree – Before and After Turfgrass lawns are needy beasts. If someone offered you a plant that required pruning every week, aerating, overseeding and fertilizing every growing season, stayed a plain...
Read morePesticides are bad. Who knew???
Pesticides are bad. Who knew??? We’ve all heard about the harm pesticides are causing our honeybees. “Save the Pollinators!” campaigns are making great strides in raising awareness of the declining populations of bees and winged pollinators vital...
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