News Bringing natural life into buildings:: Eco-architect Dr Ken Yeang’s attempts to introduce more nature into architecture are highlighted in this article. “Many buildings have been ‘de-natured’. Human beings have simplified and fragmented nature.” Loft ambitions: why green roofs are the future of urban gardening:: This article from The Ecologist discusses the many benefits of green [...]
This is an excerpt from my latest post at the Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens blog. Click the link below to visit the full post. My family recently started house hunting. We’ve been apartment dwellers for years, but the situation is right for us to purchase a home since, among other reasons, we’re planning on [...]
This is an excerpt from my latest post at the Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens blog. Click the link below to visit the full post. I confess, I’ve never been very good with plants. This despite having a fair grasp on their workings; having taken horticulture and plant classes while getting my Landscape Architecture degree. [...]
This past summer produced a large number of wildlife species on my city balcony. I’ve briefly written about my balcony in the past, but this year I had more plants, the older ones were more established and I surveyed the wildlife with a new hand lens. You can read some of my past balcony posts [...]
Just when I thought I’d seen the last of the lady beetles on my balcony this year, I got more than I ever expected. I’d had a good time watching a couple dozen lady beetles grow from larvae to adults and wrote about it recently: The Life of the Lady Beetle. Earlier in the week, [...]
There are many books about wildlife gardening, but few that focus on balconies. It was for this reason I ordered Welcoming Wildlife to the Garden: Creating Backyard and Balcony Habitats for Wildlife online, to see what information it offered on balconies in addition to wildlife design. The first thing I noticed about the book were [...]
A little less than a month ago I noticed something interesting in the clover on my balcony. Along with the problematic aphids, I now saw a few small, black insects. They were clustered together and upon further inspection I found egg casings, which looked like tissue paper. I suspected these little alligator-like insects were lady [...]