Ecology

Wallingford Weed

 Noxious weeds are non-native plants that, once established, are highly destructive, competitive and difficult to control. They have economic and ecological impacts and are very difficult to manage once they get established. Some are toxic or a public health threat to humans and animals, others destroy native and beneficial plant communities. --King County Noxious Weed Control Program I frequently try to persuade people not to kill things just because they are inconvenient (animals, insects, you may remember my moss post). I…

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Dr. Doo’s Holidoo

Kisses might begin with the letter "k," but they don't begin with "Kay."  And I will not be adding the Lexus ringtone to my partner's phone Christmas Eve (sorry, honey!). I just spent a week at a hotel/mall that's been overtaken by holiday-themed consumerism.  They charge $30 to decorate gingerbread cookies with "Gingy" while waiting to have a photo taken with Santa. The 19-story atrium is decked out in twinkly Christmas lights.  Christmas trees line the hotel lobby. Parking valets wear…

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The Garden in Winter

Getting the garden ready for winter is often enlightening. As you are out cleaning up old stalks, raking leaves, or picking up wormy apples, you might also find some interesting ground beetles or other insects searching for food on a semi-dry or warm day. It’s often the first clue that there is more going on out there than it seems. This is a good time to think about how your garden serves the creatures who stay here for the winter –…

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You heard it here first – plus herbs for beginners

Moss update: after the post on Wallyhood about moss, there were two more mossy articles – one in the Seattle Times, and one in the NY Times. However, we can proudly say that Wallingford residents had their fingers on the pulse (also Ciscoe, who mentioned moss in his column on the same day) because our moss articles came out first! Marina writes: Could you write a beginner's guide to growing herbs (ideally on a porch) here? Are some herbs better than…

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moss / garden

(Ed. Note: Wallyhood welcomes Jeanie Taylor as our new contributing writer, focusing on gardening. Jeanie owns Taylor Gardens, a gardening coaching service and Wallyhood sponsor, holds a B.S. in Botany, an M.S. in Conservation Biology , and teaches workshops for home gardeners on propagation and sustainable gardening. If you have questions on gardening, please e-mail her at [email protected] and she'll try to answer them here. Welcome, Jeanie!) Welcome to the inaugural Wallyhood Garden Questions column. I am pleased to be taking questions that will…

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Branching out to N. Wallingford

You may remember last month we posted a call for volunteers to walk around the neighborhood and identify some of the trees. Mike Ruby, who's been heading up the project has been pretty pleased with the response so far, but needs a little more help.  Mike sent me the following e-mail last night: We got the last list from SDOT (Seattle Dept of Transportation) yesterday and are ready to work on the area north of 50th. We have four areas, mostly…

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One, two, tree, four…

Mike Ruby needs your help. Recent studies show that tree cover in Seattle has declined dramatically, and Mike’s been working on a project that, once complete, will hopefully shed some light on how the trees of Wallingford have changed over the past two decades.   Using two existing lists that inventory trees in the neighborhood, he wants to determine which of them are still around. To give you a little bit of history, back in 1992, two tree-minded people—Arthur Lee Jacobson and…

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