Home & Garden

Healthy trees don't attract borer attacks

English roses are strong and can improve any garden

Nothing says English gardens like the fragrant, double-flowering David Austin roses. One can purchase David Austin roses at local nurseries, but it was with great delight that our garden-loving travel group made a pilgrimage in September to the original David Austin rose garden and nursery in Albrighton, England.

Concrete floors: Reinventing by color and design

The visual warmth of a spectacular sunburst and slender crescent moon emanates from the entryway floor in Bonnie Wyatt's home in Seattle.

Tri-Cities shows its fall beauty

Fall home decor: Bring the outdoors in

When fall blows in, most of us close up the house and shut nature out. But some South Sounders welcome it inside, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor worlds.

Ideas to cover ugly tile

Recently, a reader asked me about painting bathroom tile a different color instead of spending thousands of dollars to replace it. Many of you wrote in with recommendations based on your experience. Here are a few:

Home canning resurgence means fresh food all year

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – When Kiva Slade makes biscuits for her family on Saturday mornings in January, she has fruit from a nearby farm to spread on top – despite the fact that she lives in Upper Marlboro, Md., and it’s freezing outside.

Kick annuals to curb, bring on the bulbs

The last week of October means it is time to rip out your weary, frost-bitten annuals plants such as marigolds, petunias and tomatoes and add them to the compost pile.

Evergreen alumna poet celebrates first book

South Sound poet and The Evergreen State College alumna Tammy Robacker will celebrate the release of her first book of poetry, “The Vicissitudes,” with a party and reading from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Bellaballs Art Studio at 747 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma.

Straw: A no-dig gardening alternative

Rosalind Bell had been trying for years to get rid of her grass. The Tacoma playwright and gardener would put cardboard down on her North End front yard, then lose momentum and worry what her neighbors thought of the mess. She had a big corner lot that really needed turning into a vegetable-and-herb bed, but no budget for formal landscaping, and didn’t want a lot of hard digging herself.