Design

This adorable 929-square-foot carriage house in Des Moines, Iowa was completely transformed by the Country Living design team. I love the simple stencil pattern on the gorgeous aqua end walls of the upstairs. - Country Living

There hasn't been any rain today so far, but the cold front continued to push through. The high was in the upper 40's (° F) - chilly for us at the end of March. Not only our native woodland wildflowers are in flower, but leaves are expanding on most of our native hardwood tree species as well as native shrubs. A favorite native vine, coral honeysuckle, is 'waiting' for the first hummingbirds in our yard. The hummingbird website posts indicate that sightings have been all around us, but in spite of our feeders being up, we haven't seen any yet. Hopefully, sometime soon! The potato sprouts are finally making an appearance in the satellite garden. The squirrels have been disturbing the beds by digging holes, but the potatoes are fine. The radicchio, much appreciated by squirrels and woodchucks last fall, has produced lovely new spring leaves. I've harvested a number of them already. But I'm on the trail of nabbing my primary vegetable garden herbivore, an ...

Designer and artist Laser Rosenberg created this cool bathroom with inspiration from his clients love of "hotel style." - Laser Rosenberg

This chic bedroom by LA interior designer Betsy Burnham is both tranquil and fun at the same time. Check out that "headboard" and fab red chandelier. And I so want that chaise. - Burnham Design

I still haven't replaced the rain gauge by the main vegetable garden, but the birdbaths serve as crude measures of how much rain we've had. They're full right now, hooray! It's been dry the last couple of weeks, and the afternoon warmth has pulled additional moisture out of plants and soil. But this morning, a big front is pushing through with lots of thunderstorm activity, and is periodically pelting down raindrops, alternating with light drizzle. I just looked at the U.S. drought monitor yesterday -- it's predicting continuing drought with improvement (compared to last year, anything is improvement). But I don't think non-outdoors-oriented people are paying attention to how the prolonged drought is affecting plants, not only in our gardens, but in natural plant communities. My gardening companion, on a botanizing trip yesterday to get photos, reported that Steven's Creek and Savannah River Bluffs (two SC Heritage Reserve sites) were wonderful, with lot...

The cornflower blue in this gorgeous kitchen is what sets it apart. Such fabulous subway tile and perfectly cute fabric on the stools add a burst of soothing color. - BeachBungalow8

This pretty hall in the Long Island home of Margot Brunelle Fooshee (who is head of marketing for the J. Crew clothing company) is painted Benjamin Moore's Blue Seafoam. The painted dressing table and mirror from Now/Again in L.A. holds a shell-filled apothecary jar from English Country Antiques. - House Beautiful

This upbeat home was a submission into Apartment Therapy's Fall Colors Contest 06. The entire space displays a fabulous use of color. Definitely check out the rest of the pictures of their apartment. -Apartment Therapy

The fresh pink and aqua combination in this living room is really quite lovely. - House Beautiful

Provençal decorating mixes a plain country look with heirlooms. Calm blue-grey walls and white woodwork provide a backdrop to a painted freestanding bath. An Osborne & Little floral blind and seat cushion from GP & J Baker pick up the colours of a painting. Bare stained boards are warm, a white heart-shaped metal chair adds glamour. - House to Home

I had a lot of fun monitoring our bluebird boxes at the Garden last season, something I hadn't done before. A series of replacement boxes and several new ones gave us about 12 total boxes. Most of them are in the meadow area, but others are in other open and edge areas. I snagged a mechanic's mirror at a local autoparts store to help me see into the top of the nests, and started my weekly rounds, checking on the sequence of bluebird broods, and the nests of other birds such as chickadees and tufted titmice. I checked all of the boxes last month to make sure they were empty and clean, and ready for this year's season. We always see lots of bluebirds in the meadows, so we know we have a flourishing population. And, I'm always glad to see the male or female perched on top of the box, checking out the scene, perhaps. Coming back from lunch today, I was delighted to see a pair of bluebirds investigating a box that hadn't been used last year, except for a paper wasp ...

Love this gorgeous room designed by Tricia Guild, a design institution in Great Britain, where her bold sense of color and pattern have been translated into influential collections of fabrics, wallpaper, furnishings and accessories. - Designer's Guild via Atticmag

Have you seen the latest wallcoverings from Schumacher lately? The site has just recently been relaunched and we must say, it is looking great (to see the site, go to F Schumacher.com). For the very first time, you can view and search products on line. Here are some of our favorites: This pattern is called Imperial Trellis. It's a very popular design from Kelly Wearstler for Schumacher. It comes in several colorways, including Citrine, Chocolate (shown). Check out the site to view the complete colorways. Here is one from the Avant Garde collection. We think it's so fun and whimsical! We are in the mood for red lately, and this pattern just fits the bill: If you are looking for something elegant, this pattern is so fab: Schumacher wallcoverings are quite expensive ($150-$200) per roll. It is only sold to the trade. However, here's a good online source for F Schumacher Wallpapers .

An birding class in the botanical garden this afternoon reminded me of how useful it is to go out with an experienced birder as a leader. His ability to hear and identify calls, and then point out where to look, helped us spot an excellent variety of birds and added lots more to my 'seen in the Garden' notes. This is a good time of the year for birding, as the spring migrants start coming through. A highlight was getting a good look at one of our red-shouldered hawks (probably the male), and seeing the female on the nest. I first saw the nest about a month ago; the pair was building their nest then. They finished the nest about a week later , and started incubating the eggs. Some of our winter residents are still here -- we all got a great look at a yellow-bellied sapsucker vigorously drilling fresh holes in a young tulip poplar. They'll be heading north quite soon. This photo by Lang Elliot is from the Bird Guide at Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- one of my favorite...

The kitchen of artist Diana Fayt gives the illusion of a blue sky above with a lovely blue painted ceiling. - Apartment Therapy

There are so many great details that give this stylish aqua living room such personality. - Studio da Lu

I DO enjoy my containers and hanging baskets; they provide green cheer throughout the year, add spots of color in the warm season, and give me a chance to experiment with plants. I'm not one to be out there watering twice a day (I definitely don't enjoy the water running down my arm as I lift the watering can up to water the garage baskets and I'm much too occupied with other things to be watering that much) , but I don't mind hauling the can around -- it's good for me (weight-bearing exercise, you know). So having the first days of spring find me changing out some of the tired ornamental kales which I never much liked (the purple and white variegated ones that were about all that I could find late last fall) and replanting other plants to a 'nursery' area. In their place, until it's really warm enough to add some of the more tender things, I put in lemon and silver thymes, some wooly thyme, and a couple of Veronica 'Georgia Blue' whose flower...

The spunky kitchen in sculptor and architectural designer Elena Colombo’s Long Island getaway creatively mixes vintage blue with orange. -Blueprint via Design Talk

I was 'tagged' a couple of days ago by a fellow blogger who lives in rural Colorado, and appreciates nature in the same way that I do. The tagging involves writing a six word haiku or memoir, and posting it , and sending it to five others. Strange for most of us, since we generally aren't that type. But this is an interesting way to connect across the 'blogosphere' to others that are interested in the natural world, and gardening for nature. Here's mine: Live, learn, and enjoy nature. Ok, it's only five words, but it about sums it up for me. Emerson wrote something much more profound: 'Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.' This is one of my favorite images from an extraordinary morning where the spider webs were everywhere. If I hadn't been out, I wouldn't have seen them.

Every possible detail of the EcoManor is either sustainable or recycled. Benjamin Moore's EcoSpec Low-VOC paint (Bird's Egg 2051-60) and all natural fabrics make the master bedroom a healthy and tranquil retreat. Paintings are by renowned artist Thomas Swanston. - EcoManor

Room from a hotel in Santorini, Greece. - beachbungalow8

The first day of spring is here, complete with expanding buds, accelerating growth, and a perfect blue sky. I opened an office window this morning, to let some fresh air in, and am now listening to one of our resident mockingbirds holding forth. He often likes to perch in the tall dawn redwood, but this morning, he's a bit farther away. I love to listen to his song cycles -- there's the wren, then the jay, and then the chickadee, mixed in with other songs he mimics. What fun and a wonderful accompaniment to computer work! As I left the house this morning, I caught a glimpse of a bird with a bright-yellow tail hopping around near the big oak - the yellow patch on the rump is a giveaway. It probably was a male yellow-rumped warbler on his way north from winter breeding grounds. I hadn't seen one in our garden before.

The annual migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds is remarkable, among many remarkable natural history events. The males come first in spring, flying from their wintering grounds in central America. They're scouting out good nesting sites, and establishing territorities, often returning to the same area in North America that they've been before. One of the ways that I like to follow hummingbird migration is through Journey North's weekly e-mails. Journey North is an excellent 'real-time' website that has K-12 students, teachers, and other interested folks post sightings of hummingbirds, monarchs, and whooping cranes, monitoring their journeys 'north' and 'south,' in addition to lots of other 'cool' stuff. Their postings this week have hummingbirds spotted in Leesville, SC -- near Aiken, and in Greensboro, GA -- south of Athens. I'm preparing 'nectar' for my feeders right now. 1/4 cup of white sugar per 1 cup of water, boil...

The room was pulled together around the Breakfast at Tiffany's painting that my husband painted for my birthday. It inspired the wall color, chandelier, and collection of mercury glass. I love the combination of the delicate, jewelry-inspired details with the chunky table and rug. This room is a good representation of us. We worked on everything in this space together, from painting the walls to completely restoring the vintage chandelier. - Domino

I loved the impact of Rudbeckia maxima, giant coneflower, when I first saw it growing. It has large, broad grayish-green leaves (giving it another common name of Cabbage-leaved coneflower), with tall flowering stems topped by lovely large 'flowers' -- actually a head of flowers, but no need to get too technical about it. It's native to the Southeast and Central U.S., but is hardy farther north. A garden friend of mine wrote this nice piece for the BBG newsletter about it some time ago. He now has the attractive photo shown above accompanying the online catalog for his Loomis Creek Nursery website. Apparently, it's yet another one of our natives that was prized in Europe, and then came 'back' for us to use in our perennial gardens. I had a couple of plants that were succumbing to shady conditions in a border that needs revamping, and having noticed that they both had new growth, and after we had heavy rains on Saturday, thought on Sunday, it was an ideal ti...

The astonishing swimming-pool-cool hall color in the foyer—Blue Seafoam by Benjamin Moore—instantly won over Margot Brunelle Fooshee and her husband when they first saw this Long Island house. A chair in a harmonizing color was a gift from Margot's mother, from the family's summer house in Nantucket. Preserved 18th-century floorboards were simply sanded and waxed. - House Beautiful

Interiors from the Georgian through the Greek Revival period in American architecture (late-18th century to mid-19th century) didn't shy away from bright colors, like the turquoise in this Greek Revival drawing room. The colors set off the (often) painted classical details used throughout the rooms. - This Old House

The large-scale striped wallpaper is an invigorating background in the tiny bath. There wasn't room for a standard mirror above the sink because of the angle of the walls, so the fanciful peacock mirror is mounted on a side wall. With blue as the dominant color and brown as an accent, the color scheme is a mirror image of the bedroom. This is a surefire trick for decorating adjoining rooms. - Better Homes and Gardens

I saw a phoebe pair, courting perhaps, near the Nature Center this morning. We've had a nest in the porch eaves the last few years -- she's successfully reared 3 or 4 fledgings each year. She diligently brought insects to feed the nestlings (this photo is from last year). The old nest fell down over the winter, finally, but I do hope that she'll rebuild. It was such a great spot to watch - both directly and through the webcam that my colleague set up. Check out these expectant nestlings!

Adding native plants to your garden sometimes feels a bit serendipitous. Commonly used natives may be widely available in nurseries, but many are little known as garden plants, and so much harder to find. It's also important (just as it is with all plants) to choose the right plant for the right place. So, selecting natives of your region, or that those that are adapted to it, are the ones to try. Some natives are fussy, and not easy to grow, but many, when planted in appropriate sites, are relatively pest-and problem-free, being adapted to the regional environment. One of the first steps to adding natives is to learn more about what’s available and what’s recommended for landscape use. Some species that are hard to propagate or that are slow-growing, or don’t take well to containers may be impossible to find; similarly, herbaceous species with a limited market are the venue of specialty mail-order nurseries. Here are some of my favorite references about using native plants in ...

Earlier this week, I heard spring peepers and American toads singing in the marshy areas adjacent to a lake nearby. This evening (very warm), the peepers were singing away in the retention pond next to the grocery where I frequently shop. Spring is coming on the calendar and is already here in the biological world around us. The female carpenter bees are looking for sites to drill their larval holes, the chorus of garden birds now includes towhees, cardinals, brown thrashers, wrens, chickadees, and robins, AND the woodchuck(s), I think, have just emerged to have a very nice fresh salad meal on my young spinach plants. Hhrmph. The squirrels have been digging everywhere, but Mocha (our now low-key, pampered Golden who shares our garden with us, as well as the wildlife) also is stepping on freshly dug beds, as well, much to my dismay). At least, he's not eating my normal spring crop of Tuscan and redbor kale, primarily because the woodchuck(s) ate them in the fall. These are tryi...

A bench instead of chairs on one side of a dining table feels inviting and saves space in this blue/green dining room. Photo by Angela Moore for Domino .

In the downstairs bath of an 1890 Portland home, the owners resurfaced the claw-foot tub and set off its classic lines with serene blue walls. Resources: Clear Day paint (item 7081W) from Miller Paint Co - Cottage Living

This bold living room designed by Storm Interiors uses wallpaper from British creative institution Dominic Crinson to achieve a contemporary look. - Dominic Crinson

Simple patterns for fabrics combined with shimmering accessories bring a traditional scheme up to date, while toning shades of chocolate and soft green give the room cocooning warmth. - House to Home

We first spotted the nest two weeks ago , and the red-shouldered hawk pair finished it about a week later. Now, the female is sitting on the nest, keeping a careful eye on passersby, and calling with her distinctive kerr-kerr sound. On the days I've been by, I've usually been able to catch a glimpse of her -- unfortunately, the nest is quite high up! I took a few pictures this morning with a long lens, but managed only to get a somewhat blurry shot in my minimal efforts. In poking around the web looking for information about their nesting and foraging behavior, I came across a great digiscope sequence of a nesting red-shouldered mom and offspring in California.