While many gardeners have been sprinkling coffee grounds, brewing compost tea, and painting pruning cuts, Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has been busy destroying gardening myths like these. One by one, the fiery University of Washington Associate Professor and Extension Horticulturist has been debunking gardening beliefs and practices that don’t hold up to scientific scrutiny. Most recently, she has taken aim at… Read more →
It’s autumn. Let’s wear socks. Let’s eat chili and pasta and chicken pot pie. We’ll make pumpkin bread and apple crisp and put cinnamon in everything. Let’s walk. We’ll go down by the river, where the crunchy cottonwood leaves make a satisfying sound. We’ll walk through the woods, where the maples and the sassafras flaunt leaves of gold and orange,… Read more →
Occasionally, somebody asks me that ridiculous question: “What’s your favorite tree?” As if I could choose just one. If pushed to decide, however, I usually find myself saying, “Sassafras.” Sassafras albidum is native from Massachusetts and Michigan in the north to the eastern edge of Oklahoma in the west and to North Florida in the south. It flourishes in the Cincinnati area,… Read more →
I finally got around to reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. That’s right—yesterday was a beautiful rare sunny day in early November, and I was sitting on the couch reading a book about how people don’t go outside anymore. So I was inspired to go to nearby Powell Butte Nature Park and… Read more →
