I’ve wanted to build a “cool” house forever, or at least since I was a pre-teen. Ten years ago, I thought I would finally have the opportunity to do so, only to have my dreams dashed by a combination of onerous property taxes and impossibly difficult building regulations in Miami, Florida. I set [...]
Posts under ‘House’
Private Friend No. 1
While there are more than a few invasive exotics on my property, including Japanese Honeysuckle, a vine pointed out to me by my friend Fred First, of the Fragments from Floyd blog, I also have a few friends. Or, perhaps I should say, the wildlife have a few friends, for poison ivy is not [...]
Private Enemy No. 2
Close behind the oriental bittersweet on my list of unwanted plants is the multiflora rose bush (rosa multiflora). It was introduced in 1886 from China, Korea, and Japan as a rootstock for ornamental roses and then promoted by the federal government in the 1930s as a living fence for farmers and as a source [...]
Private Enemy No. 1
When I was in Floyd last summer for the first time, I was astonished at how lush and green the woods were. At the time, I had no idea how much of that lushness had been contributed by an invasive exotic vine, Oriental Bittersweet (celastrus orbiculatus), which was identified for me by Jason Rutledge [...]
Healing Forests
Last summer, when I hired John Sutherland and his Bull Hog, I was thankful that the machine didn’t scar the landscape any more than it did. The work he did was immensely helpful, because, for the first time, I could orient myself on the property and not be lost in thickets of briars and [...]