Expert Advice on Home Improvement

As you clean up your garden this fall, don’t forget the birds! Leave some seed heads to dry on your perennial flowers, to provide winter food for finches, cardinals, and other year-round birds. Read on for some popular garden plants that are great for feeding the birds. Read in full.

If you live in an area with foraging deer, you’ve likely watched with dismay as some of your favorite plants disappear overnight. But before you give up on gardening altogether, try making your yard less appealing to deer by choosing plants that deer find less appealing. Read on to find out more. Read in full.

It’s a magical feeling to encounter a graceful deer, peacefully browsing . . . unless your beloved hostas are what’s for breakfast! Whether you live in the country or the city, foraging deer can cause significant damage to landscapes and vegetable gardens. Read on to find out how to protect your yard or garden. Read in full.

Fall is the active season for some of the larger species of garden spiders. Here are some thoughts about how to make peace with (and even enjoy) the spiders in your yard. Read in full.

This summer has been an unusual one for me. Normally, my natural states of being include “working,” “sleeping,” and “sometimes some other stuff.” This summer, however, I’ve got a cast on my foot, which means I’m spending a good deal of time in a chair on the porch with nothing to do but redefine myself. I’ve been forced to change the pace, and it’s giving me some wonderful insights about my own little patch of earth. Read in full.

Attracting wild birds to your yard is easy – they have pretty specific needs and patterns, and they’re not picky about the solutions. You don’t even need a yard to enjoy a bird feeder, but a few simple ideas incorporated into your lawn and garden design will increase your bird populations and give you even more enjoyment. Here are some landscaping tips for turning your yard into a wild bird haven. Read in full.

Whether your home is a 5-acre farm or a 5th floor apartment, you can bring yourself a little closer to nature by attracting and feeding wild birds. Getting started is easy, and once you have some “regulars,” you’ll be able to learn what they like and how to keep them visiting. Pretty soon, you’ll feel you know your birds personally and can experience the joy of watching them feed, sing, and tend their nests. Read in full.

The other evening, I had the most interesting conversation with a hummingbird. She came right up to the porch and sipped from the butterfly bush, not two feet from my speechless self. Then, she buzzed over to the finch feeder and tapped the red top pointedly with her bill, and then she buzzed into a spunky little hover right between my eyes and cleared her throat. Loudly. Read in full.

There is the sweetest nest of baby robins in a young tree near my house! Robins are great fun in the garden, from enjoying the hatchlings to watching the adults pull fat worms from the ground. Here are some facts and tips about caring for robins in your own garden. Read in full.

One of the perks of being on television is the chance to do all kinds of crazy things. Several years ago when I was anchoring a morning news program, I was invited to this out-of-the-way zoo in a sleepy little town. I’ve always been a nature lover, but apparently it wasn’t my day to be a friend of the animal kingdom. I should have known better when the zoo director said, “Oh, you can go in there with the lion. He won’t do anything.” Read in full.