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Ultimate Guide to Keeping Frogs in a Koi Pond
As we dreamed of building a larger pond for the koi that rapidly outgrew their little stock tank pond, we wanted it to support the larger community of insects and animals native to our area. Specifically, I really wanted frogs. When we installed our first pond, the stock tank pond, we also added a few bullfrog tadpoles and tree frog tadpoles, which grew into adults.
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The Big Dig – Building Our Backyard Pond
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Growing for Good: Native Plant Gardening
Whether we grew up in farming households, helped in the suburban yard, or lived in a concrete jungle, many of us started gardening as adults with a simple approach. We grabbed a few landscape plants from a big box store. Later, we found ourselves immersed in native plant sales at our local arboretum or botanical garden. Our mindset shifted from merely sprucing up the yard to designing a space that maximizes support of local biodiversity and habitat. We shifted in…
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The Big Dig – Building Our Backyard Pond
"I dig deep thoughts and appropriately sized holes", my current Instagram tagline, makes me giggle. I didn't anticipate digging such an insanely big hole this spring, but I'd been worrying about how large the koi were growing and pointing out spots in the yard to Joe where a pond would fit.
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All the Crispy Plants
I just sat down to share pictures of the fall fire-pit garden and heard a loud buzzing coming from behind my head. I took off my sweater and then shook out my hair, and an angry bee flew out and into the overhead light. I turned off all the lights, opened the backdoor and eventually guided it to freedom. Most days I would have to agree with her that my hair looks like a bee’s nest. I can’t blame her…
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Pi Alpha Xi Plant Sale Spring 2018
My oldest and I went to the NC State Pi Alpha Xi plant sale at the NC Museum of Art Saturday morning. The plant list was shared earlier in the week, and I looked up all the native plants and boxed the ones I hoped to pick up. Without going to a specialty nursery, it can be difficult to find native plants, so this sale is a goldmine in that there are plenty plants clearly marked as native (and many…
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Resolutions for 2017 – Habitat for Birds
One of my favorite winter pastimes is backyard bird watching. We typically keep a steady supply of seed in the feeders, and occasionally put out a block of suet. Last week my youngest son and I made a fresh batch of peanut butter pine cone feeders, which the chickadees especially love. While I love putting out food for the birds, it doesn’t make me as giddy as seeing a bird land in a newly planted tree for the first time.…
