Local Features

Editor’s Note: Gloria is taking a deserved late-summer break. Her column will return next week with a special family guest writer and then Gloria will return. She thanks readers for their well-wishes and encouragement.

I came home and noticed a campfire under the pine trees. Well, it’s not exactly my home; it just feels like it.

Editor’s Note: Gloria’s 11-year-old daughter, Julia, wrote the column this week. Gloria will return next week.

The water parted on either side of the boat as we sped across the lake. The children were enthralled with the ride on their uncle’s speedboat. We sat back in our seats, there was no effort on our part, only pure enjoyment. “Could this be like life?” I mused. “The waters part for us if we learn to sit back and trust our Lord…”

Brother Javin, who is only a year older than myself, was my playmate in growing up years. Whether it was splashing in the creek, romping in the haymow, or picking endless quarts of strawberries, we were usually together.

This week was like no other in my life. Exactly a year ago our lives changed forever. My husband, Daniel was called home to Jesus.

Homeowners who want nice landscaping, but dread maintenance tasks like weeding and mulching, often turn to pebble mulch as a solution. Pebble mulching is the practice of covering landscape beds with weed barrier fabric and then spreading a few inches of pebbles or decorative stone. Stone mulch has been widely used in commercial landscapes for many years, simply because, at least in the beginning, it discourages weeds. Wood mulches need to be renewed every year, but stone mulches can last five years or more before they need to be refreshed.

Weed control is the biggest maintenance challenge in most home landscapes. Wild garlic and wild onions might be the hardest weeds to deal with. These plants are made to survive most weed removal methods. Wild garlic plants have round, hollow, tubular leaves, with a grayish-blue powdery coating. Wild onions are flat-leaved and non-hollow, green and waxy. Both plants are a nuisance in gardens and lawns, and controlling them both takes the same recipe.

Today is Tuesday, March 28, the 87th day of 2023. There are 278 days left in the year.

March is the month that begins the display of spring bulbs. To ensure a long and spectacular display next spring, start a list of what bulbs bloom in your garden this season. Be sure to tuck that list in your Garden Journal! Note exactly when each plant blooms, its location in the garden, and what colors are springing up. In late summer and fall, when the bulb catalogs arrive, you will be able to look for species and cultivars that will add color when and where you need it most.