Hello fellow readers, Last year, a fox den provided a reprieve from my chipmunk dilemma. They’re back! – Leaving piles of dirt around the garden pots. But their antics pale compared to Phil’s squirrel dilemma in Whitehall, PA, worthy of a standup comedy routine. Phil

Hello fellow readers, What’s with all the poison ivy? I asked myself as I employed the “Mary-technique” of removing poison ivy using a plastic grocery bag, a technique most dog owners find familiar, except perhaps for the protective gear. With long sleeves, long pant

Hello fellow readers, At last, the internet and cell service are restored after a week without due to the Wizard of Oz-like storm coupled with my computer fixer-upper (dear Curt) away on business. There are benefits to being unplugged. It heightens the sounds in nature, the pleasure o

Hello Fellow Readers, Springtime is mulch time, and John from Andover, NJ, asked what kind of mulch is best. First and foremost, remember to apply only two to three inches of mulch and stay clear of trunks and stems to prevent disease (a polite way of saying no volcano mulch). There w

Hello Fellow Readers, At last, the big cleanup. Curt and I spent eight hours cleaning up branches, sticks, and wheelbarrows of hickory nut hulls. The critters ate the nuts and left the husks. Talk about poor table manners. Then there were the bucket loads of cones, a sign our hemlocks

Hello fellow readers, As I write you it’s Easter Monday when the tradition of egg rolling contests are taking place. But we woke to snow. Seven inches of it. An egg-shaped snowball could be charming…. Not to worry, it will melt quickly and the daffodils under the snow this morni

Hello fellow readers, Last week we spoke about witch hazel brightening the winter-scape with petite mops of color. Another first to show is the beloved pussy willow whose bud-like puffs of fuzz are in fact blooms. They are called catkins which seems fitting that pussy willows produce

Hello fellow readers, We welcome witch hazel’s winter reprieve of blooms bringing color to the predominantly white and grey landscape. They are one of the first to appear, with tiny mops of late winter blooms. The late-winter or early-spring bloomers we see are hybrids of mostly

Hello fellow readers, As I write it’s the second day of March and a wild storm with high winds and heavy snow is underway. After a mild February with temps in the fifties, even some seventies, soil is saturated and soft. The risk of trees falling causing power outages are high. Talk a

Hello fellow readers, I visited with Anne of Lafayette NJ last week and was delighted to see that she still has her Christmas tree. “It’s so fresh, I don’t have the heart to toss it out.” She combed a branch with her hand and not one needle dropped. Anne modified the decorations since