Stories by Category

Birds, Bees, Butterflies, & Other Beneficials

   A bee or not a bee, that is the question
   A Chorus of Treefrogs in My Garden
   April Showers Bring Flowers and Pollinators
   Beginning Beekeeping
   Berries For Birds
   Butterflies in the Habitat Garden
   Darwin, Divas and Worms
   Garden Good Guys – Toads
   Gardening for the Birds
   Getting to Know the Garden Good Guys
   How to Help our Pollinators
   Hummingbirds in the garden
   Increasing biodiversity in our gardens will help offset harmful human impacts
   Lessons from a foray into backyard beekeeping
   Milkweeds and Monarchs
   Pitting Bug Against Bug in the Landscape
   Pollination Ecology
   Pollinators
   Promoting habitat gardening for bees
   Songbirds
   The Beautiful Predators
   The plight of the honeybee
   When pesky birds need to take wing

Community & School Gardens

   Children in the Garden
   Community gardens create food, flowers and friends
   Connections Happen Between Master Gardeners and a Memorial Rose Garden
   Discover the magic of Marin Art & Garden Center
   Falkirk Greenhouse Renovation a Community Effort
   Growing a community garden in Tiburon
   Making Master Gardeners work for you
   Marin Ventures plants seed for well-being
   Master Gardeners initiate a wonderful garden at Davidson Middle School
   Nature Study for Kids at Marin Art and Garden Center
   Olompali Historic State Park celebrates heritage, rehabilitates gardens
   Open Garden Project expanding
   Painted ladies and other attractions at MAGC
   Planting inspiration
   San Rafael's Falkirk center gets a makeover
   School Gardens
   Sprouting kids fascination with beans
   Teaching kids about health, nutrition, eco-consciousness
   The outdoor classroom: beautiful, fun, educational
   Turning a Private Garden into a Public One
   Where the Magic Is

Design

   A New House – A New Garden
   Adapt your garden to the natural setting
   Aromatic entryway gardens look, smell great
   Coming to Terms with Time
   Companion Planting
   Container gardening
   Container Gardening: a great way to expand your garden
   Create vibrant color palette in autumn landscape
   Creating a Beautiful and Healthy Garden with Feng Shui
   Creating A Tranquil Space
   Designing a Truly Mediterranean Container Garden
   Designing serenity
   Designing your Garden with Drought-Tolerant Plants
   Do your own garden design with this practical advice
   Dreaming of spring in cold of winter
   Elements of Japanese Garden Design
   Firesafe Landscaping
   For busy green thumbs, raised beds require less maintenance, extend growing season
   Four English Garden Designers
   Gardening in Difficult Places: A Tale of Two Median Islands
   Gardening in indoor small spaces takes thought
   Gardening in the shade offers challenges and beauty
   Gardening to Scale: Beyond Bonsai
   Gardening with a Japanese Touch
   Gardens Can Help Keep Memories Alive or Transform Your Garden Into a Living Keepsake
   Going with the Flow in the Garden
   Growing UP - Vertical gardens create buildings that are vibrantly verdant, dynamic
   Hillside Gardening
   Hillside gardening offers challenges, opportunities
   Holistic approach to landscaping
   Janet Lennox Moyer Lights Up Your Garden
   Let's Design a Border
   LuAnna’s Award Winning Garden
   Making Something From Nothing: The Evolution of a Family Garden
   Master Gardener: Marin's climate, views and hills share much Italy's Tuscany
   Mediterranean Gardens
   New Zealand flax provides vertical structure to your garden design
   Path and walkways beautify and enhance our enjoyment of our garden
   Planting in Layers
   Plants I haven’t killed yet: Confessions of a water-challenged gardener
   Plants with Place
   Ponds, When it comes to building a backyard water feature, start with a good plan
   Save money, resources with landscaping advice
   Slow Growing Plants
   Tea Gardens
   The Chinese Garden
   The textures and colors of a coral reef can inspire gardeners
   Think about plotting your garden plot
   Using edibles as part of your garden design
   When planting in urban landscape, think small
   Who says your garden needs to be green?
   Wildflowers can be a low-cost addition to the garden

Fruits, Vegetables, & Other Edibles

   A citrus tree for me, In Marin?
   A pineapple guava will add beauty to your garden and an exotic fruit to your table
   A Salad Garden
   A tomato for every garden
   All About Edible Gardening, with Jennie Eubank
   All Kinds of Tomatoes
   Annual heirloom, hybrid sale features varieties perfect for Marin
   April's the month to plant for a summer full of tasty tomatoes
   Asparagus
   Bare root fruit trees a delicious idea
   Berries can be a delicious addition to your backyard
   Beyond the Lemon Tree: Landscaping with Edibles
   Bringing Back the Victory Gardens
   Chinese Medicinal Foods in the Garden, Part II
   Chinese Medicinal Herbs in the Garden, Part 1
   Citron and Buddha's Hand
   Citrus - 20 million years in the making
   Cultivating Fig Trees
   Cultivating your own food doesn't have to cost a bundle
   Fresh figs from container grown trees" or "A fig for every garden”
   Fruit trees, other plants need dormancy brought on by the cold
   Fruit trees: impulse buyers beware
   Green Gulch Farm horticulturalist shares principles for growing food organically
   Growing a salad garden in a pot
   Growing Asparagus in Your Garden
   Growing edibles in wintertime
   Growing Herbs 101
   Growing Mushrooms in your Garden
   Growing olives at home
   Guava
   Herbs
   Herbs for what ail you
   Herbs in the Garden: Ancient History and Modern Use
   Herbs with History
   Increasing biodiversity in our gardens will help offset harmful human impacts
   It's Time for the Tomato Market
   Kiwi, gooseberries and passion fruit offer shade and tasty rewards
   Learn to grow your own, organically
   Learning how to save seeds may help species facing extinction
   Let’s Hear it for Locally Grown Food!
   Make Time for Garlic
   Make time for thyme in your 2007 garden
   Many consider purslane a weed, but it's a powerhouse of nutrition
   Marin's climate is perfect for growing grapes, and arbors give them support
   Marin's Mediterranean climate ideal for growing olives
   Marin's weather often to blame for paltry tomato crop
   Master Gardener: Fruit trees, other plants need dormancy brought on by the cold
   Olive trees fit perfectly in Marin's Mediterranean-like climate
   Passing along wisdom, myths of growing food
   Persimmons: Fruit of the Gods
   Planting Spring Vegetables
   Pumpkins
   Scented Geraniums As Culinary Treats
   Selecting Fruit Trees for Marin Gardens
   Snack Time in the Garden
   Specimen trees bring beauty and interest to garden
   Spring Puttering - Now is a perfect time to start planning a kitchen garden
   Summer's best recipe -- fruits and veggies in containers
   The Good Greens of Winter
   The many uses of lemon verbena in the garden and in the kitchen
   These plants are true companions
   Three good reasons to plot out space for edibles
   Time to be Picky
   Timing is everything when harvesting vegetables
   Tisanes, Teas and Infusions
   Tomatoes
   Tomatoes and a festival to celebrate them
   Tomatoes: Coming Soon to a Festival Near You
   Top Ten ways to succeed and have fun in your vegetable garden
   Truly fresh picked
   Try drought-tolerant sorrel in your edible landscape
   Try Unusual Vegetables
   Using edibles as part of your garden design
   Viva the Spanish Olive!
   Why Are My Tomato Plants Failing?
   Winter herbs delight the senses

Gardening Resources

   ‘Tis the Season – Garden Lovers Gift Ideas!
   A garden for tough times
   A Guide to Healthier Gardening
   A Typical Day at the Marin Master Gardeners' Desk
   A Visit to the Redwood Creek Native Plant Nursery
   Benefiting from how Native Americans cared for the land
   Book Review: Gardening Among Friends
   Bring on the Bugs! The Doctor is In
   Bring on the Gardening Gifts!
   California Native Plants for the Garden-A Book Review
   Catalogs to Inspire Your Spring Gardening
   Comfort in the Garden
   Community gem in San Rafael's Falkirk
   Corn dogs, midways, ferris wheels and sustainability
   Demonstration gardens at fair inform, entertain
   Digital photography let's you see your garden in a new way
   Dirty talk with the Dirt Diva
   Enjoying your garden morning and night
   Ethnobotany
   Explore Worth's Paradise with Open Days Program
   Fabulous floral visions at S.F. Flower and Garden show
   Farm Day give kids up-close way to learn about agriculture
   Farmers markets are more than just a place to get your groceries
   Finding Tools For Your Garden
   Garden show focuses on climate change, drought and sustainability
   Gardening Muses
   Gardening offers many health benefits
   Gardening with Energy Costs in Mind
   Give kids a place to grow their own
   Give Your Wallet a Break!
   Go from garden to table at Marin County Fair
   Great reads for children
   Green Roofs
   Green Roofs and Living Walls
   Growing Old in the Garden: Redwoods Residents Show us How
   Growing the next Generation of Gardeners
   Grown in the neighborhood! Marin Farmers Markets are Back!
   Healing gardens nurture and replenish us
   Healing Plants
   Helping restore habitat in the Presidio
   Hidden Bounty of Marin—A Documentary Reminder to Think Globally, Eat Locally
   Holistic approach to landscaping
   How to correctly manage garden pests
   Increasing biodiversity in our gardens will help offset harmful human impacts
   Independent Nurseries
   Indian Valley Organic Farm a good place for soil, produce and farmers
   Last Minute Gifts for Gardeners
   Last Minute Gifts for the Gardener
   Latin 101 for Plant Lovers
   Learn About Plants and More at the Tomato Market
   Learn About Your Pests at the Sick Plant Clinic
   Learning how to save seeds may help species facing extinction
   Living Roof at the California Academy of Sciences
   Locally Grown
   Lunar planting, astrological signs and biodynamics
   Making Master Gardeners work for you
   Marin Master Gardener: Gifts for Growers
   Mysterious botanical deviations that occur naturally can spark wonder
   New books offer a wealth of gardening information
   New Year’s Resolutions for Gardeners
   New Year’s Resolutions for Gardeners
   Organic Bouquets are a Girls' Best Friend
   Photo Garden Journal
   Photography in the garden
   Plant Explorers Sailed the Ocean Blue...Discovering New Plants
   Plant Names
   QuarryHill Botanical Garden
   San Francisco Flower & Garden Show grows to include edibles and cooking demonstrations
   San Francisco Flower and Garden Show
   Seminars at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
   Share your gardening knowledge
   Smart Plants
   Sow inspiration with books for the holidays
   Specialty Nurseries of Marin
   Starting your own garden takes a can-do attitude
   Sustainable and delicious garden at Marin County Fair
   Sustainable Gardening with Don Mahoney
   Symbiosis
   The garden “earns its keep” as a classroom
   The Garden of Eatin'
   The Less Strenuous Garden: Part 2
   The Real Dirt about Master Gardeners
   Tour plants ideas for eco-friendly landscaping
   Treehouses: not just for kids anymore
   United We Shop
   Using edibles as part of your garden design
   Watch Out for That Ladder—Oh, the Agonies of Gardening
   Water Districts are Overflowing with Gardening Advice
   What Can We Learn From Garden Visits?
   What does 'hardiness' mean, anyway?
   What Eichler Did for Bay Area Gardens
   What's next after Marin County Fair?
   What's wrong with my plant?
   Who Greened Your County
   Wildly Successful Plants, Northern , by Pam Peirce. A Review
   Winter Reading
   You have problems? They have answers

Gardening Tips & Techniques

   A Great Garden Depends on a Great Meeting of Bacteria and Fungi
   A New Year, A New Compost Pile
   Aesthetic pruning of trees and shrubs
   Aging gardeners can continue their passion with a few tweaks
   All Stars for your Garden
   Bare bones about bareroot roses
   Be kind to to your plants' roots so they can thrive
   Breaking down the mystery of composting
   Choose Your Mulch Wisely
   Compost for every corner of your garden
   Compost Queen Double-09
   Compost, mulch and amendments help replenish soil
   Composting 101
   Confessions of a first-time composter
   Creating Healthy Gardens Naturally
   Easy Composting
   Feed your garden well
   Fertilizers
   Garden Myth Busting
   Garden soil needs a healthy balance
   Go ergonomic with your tools
   Good gardens start from the ground up
   Healthy Soil
   Holistic approach to landscaping
   How to create a sustainable garden
   How to create a truly low-maintenance garden
   How to propagate plants
   Hydroponic Gardening
   Hydroponics 101-Where’s the dirt?
   Increasing biodiversity in our gardens will help offset harmful human impacts
   Live and let live: Overgrown plants can bring unexpected beauty
   Making Master Gardeners work for you
   Many plants thrive in the shade
   Marin's Mediterranean climate ideal for growing olives
   Microclimates
   Microclimates Important to Garden
   Mulch
   Paying Attention to Mushrooms
   Potted plants can keep gophers at bay
   Primer on Pruning
   Propagation
   Providing Drainage – the Spaces in Between
   Prudent Pruning
   Prune roses now for that big bloom in spring
   Pruning
   Recipe to cook up some fabulous soil!
   Seasonal benefits of cover crops
   Seed Saving
   Seeds hold the miracle of life, so save, swap and share them
   Selecting and Caring for Garden Tools
   Shade Gardening
   Sheet Composting
   Sheeting mulching can be forgiving way to improve soil
   Solving Soil Problems
   The dangerous beauty of poisonous plants
   The Full Scoop About Fertilizers
   The full scoop about soil amendments
   The Garden: Grounds for sharing natural gifts
   The Greening of Gardeners
   The Seeds They are a Changing
   Timing, technique play key role in dividing perennials
   Using edibles as part of your garden design
   Water Gardening
   What to consider when buying a plant that will thrive
   What's in a name? Everything
   When it comes to your soil, you’re covered with cover crops

Indoor Plants / Crafts

   Autumn is the season for gourds
   Creating a Garden Album
   Cutting Garden II
   Flower preserving is a time-honored art
   Houseplants Part 1
   Houseplants Part 2
   Indigo and the ancient craft of dyeing
   Making your own wreath is easy and rewarding
   Poinsettia –From Weed to Winner
   Poinsettias
   The Garden Inside
   Tips on Keeping Cut Flowers Fresher Longer
   Winter Garden Art

Lawns & Groundcovers

   Alternatives to Lawns
   Alternatives to water-thirsty lawns
   Ground Covers
   Ground Covers for Shady, Quiet Places
   How to create a truly low-maintenance garden
   Lawns
   Lush lawns that use less water
   Path and walkways beautify and enhance our enjoyment of our garden

Native Plants

   Advantages of mixing native and nonnative plantings
   Bring California Natives Into Your Cottage Garden
   California Natives
   California Wildflowers
   Learning how to save seeds may help species facing extinction
   Native Plants for Habitat
   Native plants that flower and produce berries work well in gardens
   Plant natives and you can cut water and time in landscaping
   Planting natives creates 'sweet bee-garden'
   Zauschneria aka Epilobium

Perennials, Annuals, Bulbs, & More

   'Carnival' of exotic colors and fragrances at orchid exposition
   A Pretty “Weed” for your Garden
   AMAZING Alstroemerias
   Autumn is the season for gourds
   Carnivores in the Conservatory
   Crazy for the Daisy
   Daylilies of all shapes and colors are easy-care beauties for your garden
   Diverse Daylilies are easy to grow
   Dracunculus vulgaris, a Voodoo Lily for your Garden
   Easy Orchids—One Inside, One Outside
   Easy Seeding Spring Annuals
   Euphoric over Euphorbias
   Every garden could use some homey charm
   Experiencing Euphorbia
   Forget-Me-Not
   Foxglove offers a spectacular display
   Foxglove, the Fairy Flower
   Fremontodendron californica, Flannelbush Fremontia: a spectacular late=spring and summer bloomer
   Growing Cyclamen in Greece and Marin
   Heucheras
   It's that bulb-planting time of year again
   Ivy Geraniums—Pelargonium peltatum
   Learning how to save seeds may help species facing extinction
   Lilies
   Native plants that flower and produce berries work well in gardens
   Not your grandmother's hydrangeas
   Nothing quite like a freshly picked bouquet
   Orchids
   Pansy--A Friend in Winter
   Peonies For Our Mild Marin Climate
   Plant Bulbs For Spring Flowers
   Plant Bulbs in Your Perennial Border
   Planting bulbs an easy way to create colorful garden
   Presenting California's Golden Larkspur
   Repotting Cymbidiums
   San Francisco's dahlia garden is in full bloom
   Sold on Salvia
   Summer and fall blooming bulbs
   Sweet peas are fragrance of spring
   The Amaryllis Guessing Game
   The Calla
   The Hardy Helleborus
   Wildflowers - Research Before You Sow

Pests & Other Problems

   A bee or not a bee, that is the question
   Are gardeners using less pesticide?
   Bats have many positive benefits, unless they're living under your roof
   Cape Ivy
   Charlotte and Company
   Escaped Exotics, Invasive Plants
   Fine tuning landscape’s ecology to keep out pests
   Garden Rehab: Wean your plants off the sauce (pesticides, that is)
   Gardening with Deer
   Horticultural oils battle bugs nontoxically
   How to combat powdery mildew on plants
   How to correctly manage garden pests
   In Praise of Weeds
   Integrated Pest Management
   Keeping blight off of fruit trees
   Living with Wildlife
   Man Vs. Bug
   Mistletoe
   More on Integrated Pest Management
   Non-Native Invasive Plants
   Out, out damn'd weeds
   Rats can do a lot of damage around home, garden
   Snails, Slugs & Slime
   Spider Mites
   Spray now or pay later
   Springtime brings new growth - and pesky pests
   The case of the curious pest
   The Top 10 Ways to Kill Plants You Love
   Underground invaders to your garden
   Weed Control
   Weed Identification
   What to Do When Unwanted Deer Appear
   What’s wrong with my plant?
   When pesky birds need to take wing
   Yellowjackets

Seasonal Advice

   A Green Autumn
   Bright spots of color help lift the drabness of the winter garden
   Care of Gift Plants
   Embracing Winter as a Gardener
   Fall Checklist for Gardeners
   Fall in your Garden
   February in the Garden
   Gardener’s checklist for summer
   Heat Stressed Plants
   Late Summer Color
   Leaf-Peeping in Your Own Backyard
   Midsummer Gardening Tips
   Oh Christmas Tree!
   Ready for Winter?
   Real Gardeners Like Winter
   Sleeping gardens reveal secrets, plights and realms of possibilities
   SMALL FALL GARDENS
   Some Thoughts on Winter Gardening
   The Brilliant Colors of Fall
   The Leaves are Falling!
   Why Do Leaves Fall
   Winter Gardens
   Winter is a good time for armchair gardening!
   Year-round gardening means you may have to pull some producing plants

Succulents, Grasses, & Ferns

   Ferns
   Friend or Foe: Bamboo in the domestic garden
   Leafy prehistoric ferns ideally suited for Marin's climate
   Low-water succulents offer textures, shapes, colors and sizes to enhance any garden
   Not So Crass -- Getting to Know the Crassula Family
   Pampas grass can be beastly but beautiful
   Playtime with succulents
   Succulents—What Could Be Easier?

Trees, Shrubs, & Vines

   A new year and a new garden filled with roses
   A Rose By Any Other Name …
   An Aussie plant perfect for Marin gardens, too
   Aussie love affair keeps blooming
   Barberry
   Ceanothus
   Ceanothus: a Blue Gift for your Garden
   Coaxing My Wisteria to Flower
   Colorful plants from Australia do well in California
   Coyote Bush
   Flannelbush, named for John C. Fremont
   Flowering trees, plants add color in bleak winter gardens
   Form and function of trees
   Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair tree):An Outstanding Ornamental Tree for the Domestic Garden
   Growing shrubs and small trees in containers
   Hardenbergia
   Heavenly Bamboo Lives up to its Name
   How to Protect Your Oaks
   Hoyas and other nostalgia plants
   Hydrangea How-tos!
   Hydrangeas
   Hydrangeas
   Hydrangeas: Prune for Maximum Flowering
   Japanese Maples in your Garden
   Japanese maples require little but offer color and more
   Jujubes
   Knock, Knock—Who’s There?
   Leavesare more than fall color
   Magnolias in Marin
   Marin's Mediterranean climate ideal for growing olives
   Master Gardeners: Conifers' gifts continue after the holidays, too
   Native plants that flower and produce berries work well in gardens
   Native shrubs create a visual anchor in landscapes - fast
   Not your grandmother's hydrangeas
   Planting Under Oaks
   Plumbago—A Gardener’s Dream
   Promoting Growth- A Springtime Rose Feeding Schedule
   Proper pruning of wisteria produces a plethora of blossoms
   Rabbit Food for Roses?
   Redwoods can be challenging obstacle
   Rose Care
   Rose Pruning Basics
   Rose Time
   Roses
   Roses Are My Weakness-Winter Rose Care
   Roses get a bad rap as fussy divas needing extra care
   Roses in January
   Royal Companions
   Specimen trees bring beauty and interest to garden
   Sudden Oak Death Update
   Testing roses is serious, but what results!
   The Australian Invasion
   Tree & Shrub Gardening for Northern California
   Using edibles as part of your garden design
   What to look for when buying bareroot roses
   What's bugging your roses?
   Why I choose Choisya: The evergreen shrub with everything

Water, Irrigation, & Conservation

   Conserve Water, Our Liquid Gold
   Fine tune your irrigation system to fit each plant’s needs
   Five things you can do right now to save water in your garden
   GARDENING WITH DRIP IRRIGATION
   Gardening without Watering
   Green revolution may help stem global warming
   Greening Your Garden with Less Water: Let a MG Irrigation Specialist show you how
   Habitat Garden for Humans, Too
   Habitat gardening can offer lots for wildlife, great views
   Helping Homeowners Save Water in Their Gardens
   Holistic approach to landscaping
   Increasing biodiversity in our gardens will help offset harmful human impacts
   Permeable surfaces let rainwater soak naturally into the earth
   Rerouting the rain to reduce runoff can enhance landscape
   Saving Water
   Slow it down, spread it out, soak it in: Collecting rainwater keeps it from going down the drain
   Smart planting, exchanging seeds, composting will help ecosystem
   Summertime Watering Wisdom
   Take a walk to conserve water
   Take a walk, conserve water
   Using less water in the garden
   Using Mulch in Your Garden Will Conserve Water
   Using water effectively in yards
   Water is liquid gold
   Waterwise Gardening

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