Hot summers can be expensive, with air conditioners and fans driving up household electricity costs; however, researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) have identified a scientifically valid and inexpensive cooling method humans have known about for nearly a century. In a study from the UniSA, living walls or vertical gardens—walls that are entirely covered with…

By Nancy Ngo From Star Tribune St. Paul—On a weekend morning in mid-August, customers trickle into a St. Paul driveway for a mini farmers market. The incentive to arrive early is not just to nab the freshest of the fresh produce—it also betters the odds that you’ll walk away with one of Betty’s pies. And,…

By Nancy Ngo From Star Tribune Roseville–As a child growing up in Minnesota’s North Woods, Chuck Levine spent his free time studying plant life. He foraged for and pressed plant leaves. Neighbors gave him flora to bring home and grow. His family nurtured his budding green thumb, too. “My mom would buy the plants, seed…

The contrast between members of the du Pont family who settled in Wilmington, Delaware, and the surrounding Brandywine Valley at the turn of the 19th century and those who toiled in the powder mills they founded is one of numerous diversities that characterize the destination. Some members of the family lived in a 175-room mansion…

By Ted Glanzer From Hartford Courant   HARTFORD, Conn. — While there’s still plenty of debate swirling around the age-old question, Hartford resident Travis Stewart is certain what came first for him: the egg. Then came the chickens. The self-proclaimed Backyard Farmer on Preston Street, whose operation includes two raised-bed gardens with kale, mint and other…

  While being an active gardener is fun, life can get in the way of active gardening life. Understandably, you can get busy, and sometimes something as simple as watering your garden can be forgotten. Even if you have drought-tolerant plants or a garden that needs little tending too, watering is still vital to plant…

Sure they sting, but – like most living creatures – honey bees were created with a built-in defense mechanism. Without that stinger, they would not be able to defend themselves while nectar is collected from flowers and stored inside honeycombs, ultimately resulting in an age-old substance considered “liquid gold” and “food of the gods” since…

A walk in the garden is taking on new meaning this year as the 25th annual Newport Beach Garden Tour, hosted by Sherman Library and Gardens’ Volunteer Association, goes virtual. Beginning May 8, the tour will feature some of the most unique and finely-designed botanical gardens in Southern California. The professionally-produced video tour weaves homeowners’…

What are plants without the planting? Semantic irony aside, aeroponic systems make soil-free plant growth not only possible, but rapid and abundant. The level of efficiency, water conservation, nutrient density and food safety seem almost too good to be true at first glance. Nonetheless, as long as one has the funds and will power to invest in an aeroponic…

Spring has sprung, and summer will soon arrive. If you’re a flower gardener—and the National Gardening Association estimates that members of more than a third of American households are—you already may have begun to till soil and plant seeds. If you enjoy gardens more by watching than working, however, now is the time to plan…