Save the trees
For the last few years, I’ve been getting more homeowners questioning the health of the large trees in their yards. After ice storms, strong winds, and snowfalls, the trees on our properties have taken quite a beating. Before you decide to get rid of your trees in favour of less yardwork, there are a few […]
Help the helpers
Homelessness. It takes the starch out of one’s sails. Everyone’s sails. Let me start by pointing out those people who are homeless don’t want to live rough. And, this community doesn’t want to be the place where encampments pop-up here, there and almost everywhere. Homelessness brings about the issue of health, sanitation and safety—for everyone. […]
Growing pot
Growing Cannabis is taking the country by storm. Whether it’s licensed growers, greenhouse companies, or even home gardeners, marijuana has become a crop that people are paying attention to. Much of this is because of the research being done on the benefits of this plant in pain management, epilepsy, glaucoma, anxiety, arthritis and diet. Marijuana […]
Spring rolls and resolutions
I think I’ve just made Spring Resolutions. Imagine that! Spring Resolutions. Unlike the New Year’s Resolutions I never really make out loud or even believe I’d keep if I did make them. Spring Resolutions seem to have more promise. At least to me there’s more promise. I’m more likely to resolve to clean up the […]
In the moonlight garden
With the advent of outdoor lighting, the Moonlight Garden seems to have disappeared from today’s landscape designer’s repertoire. All of the nighttime attention has been placed on using up-lights, down-lights and path-lights to create dramatic impact in our gardens that we know look good at night; trees, rocks and features of the home. Unfortunately, we […]
Chocolate Cotton Tails
Easter is, simply, a long weekend with our family. It’s a good time to get together, enjoy some out-of-doors time, eat a bit too much, laugh a lot and indulge in some sweet treats. We aren’t a religious bunch, although I was raised as part of great big Catholic family. When I was a kid, […]
Cost vs. value
As you know, I am on ‘hiatus’. To most of you, this would mean I’m sipping piña coladas in a beach hut in some place that has a beach and a hut, where I can order a drink with less piña and more colada, or at the Sandbanks—which has a beach and portapotties, and so […]
Plant picks
As a landscape designer, I want to share my must-have plants for any outdoor space. These are the ones that I like to put into all of my designs, but also the ones that I have in my own personal spaces. There are thousands of plants, trees and shrubs that you can have in your […]
The rest of the day to myself
“Top ‘o’ the morning to ya”. It’s March 17th and a it’s big day for all of the Irish and the hyphenated Irish and pretenders to the nationality. St. Patrick’s Day was a big deal when I was a kid. With a surname like “Durning” it was hard to be anything but Irish. When I […]
Preservation, demolition or what?
Sorry, still not writing. Other than impulsively writing columns late at night, I’m very relaxed. I’m the kind of guy who likes to keep old things around. Some of us do. I’ll start with an analogy: I went to my closet, which is jampacked with shirts. I looked, but didn’t understand the me that required […]