TRURO — In the early morning hours of Oct. 27, the night of the recent nor’easter, a tremendous gust of wind came swooping down over the ocean, across the tops […]
On the Landscape
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Walled Gardens Can Put Us at Ease
More than a collection of plants, a garden is a place that speaks to body and mind
On a recent trip to Philadelphia to visit friends, I had an opportunity to sit and think about space. My friends’ house is in a tightly packed neighborhood with narrow […]
DO NOT DISTURB
A Sanctuary for Soaking In
An outdoor bathtub is a place of self-ness under the stars
The home is many things. At its barest, it is shelter. If we are lucky, it is more, fulfilling an array of our human needs beneath one roof. The kitchen […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Lilacs Tell a Story
A lonesome plant, found in the woods, might have marked an entryway — or an outhouse
In a recent conversation with a friend, the subject of lilacs growing in the wild came up. My friend had been on a walk in the woods of Wellfleet when […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Bonsai Brings Untamable Nature Close
With fearless cuts, a caretaker tends the conditions for healthy growth
My introduction to bonsai was an encounter with a collection of straggly little junipers in pots in a friend’s yard. The plants were root-bound and malnourished, and they had taken […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Lichens: A Love Story
Everywhere, intricate, multicolored couplings take hold for dear life
There’s a bend in the road on the way to the dump in Wellfleet. The road winds through a low, wet area, a tributary of the Herring River. As far […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Finding the Woods on a Search for a Bird
Following a hermit thrush call, an encounter with mystery
There is a little bird that lives in the woods. It nests low to the ground, at the edges of clearings. It is about the size of a sparrow. The […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Beyond the Lawn
Rethinking America’s most wonderful, ridiculous monoculture
The lawn. A tightly cropped, cleanly edged area of neat green. An outdoor carpet for lying on and looking at. A lawn is deeply ingrained in our culture as an […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Pruning Is a Good Thing
Purposeful cuts are an act of rejuvenation
Hacking. Butchering. Murdering. These are all terms we hear when the subject of pruning comes up. These words betray a widely held belief that pruning is an act of brutality. […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Zen of Moss
Vibrant magic in the gray winter woods
The woods are a thousand tans, reds, and browns. Furrowed bark every shade of charcoal. Snowfall in the woods, in the low winter light, a cast of blue. The muted […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Structure and Shape in the Winter Garden
Reminders of the bones required to support summer’s softer beauty
I used to rent a small house with large windows. The windows overlooked a meadow of grasses and wildflowers framed at its edges by low oaks and autumn olive. In […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Rewards of Caring for House Plants
The basics are simple: soil, water, light, nutrients, and love
Frost etches the margins of the grass in the early morning. You can see your breath when you step outside at night. The bin of winter clothing has been pulled […]
on the landscape
The Grasses Tell Us to Be Quiet
Plants to create spaces that borrow from the textures of woods, fields, and dunes
Shhhhhhhh. The wind is given voice by the grass. The wind has no sound if not for the things it passes through, around, within. It is not the sound of […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Sculpted Masterpieces of Our Sandbar
If Cape Cod were to secede, the pitch pine could be its emblem
If I were asked to describe one image that most aptly represents the character and feel of the Outer Cape, it would be a gnarled, wind-sculpted pitch pine clinging to […]
on the landscape
The Woods Find Their Way
Two years after the gypsy moths, an altered landscape emerges
There is a trail I follow through the forest behind my house, a winding old fire road grown narrow over the years. I have walked these woods for most of […]
