Recently, we lost one of the great ones, Peter Spaulding, longtime Shepherdstown resident, landscaper and landscape designer for dozens of clients in the area. He is survived by his sister, Pat Spaulding. Pete was 71. Here are a few thoughts about my friend. Please go to petespaulding.org to ...
There’s much to buzz about this time of year. For starters, it is documented that animals pollinate 85 percent of plant species worldwide. Of that figure, bees are the main pollinators in most types of ecosystems. The world supports some 20,000 bee species; roughly 4,000 of those species are ...
The Maryland legislature (called the General Assembly in that state) included a large increase for state funding of the Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC) train system when it recently passed its state budget for Fiscal Year 2023. The MARC is run by Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), which ...
What would we do without the marauding deer herd in the spring landscape? Likely prune more frequently, yet have a lush garden packed with all manner of thriving plants, thanks to the lack of the nightly gnawing and stripping of bark and leaves. Plants all over Shepherdstown are hanging on for ...
The 2022 Regular Session of the State Legislature closed at midnight on March 12. A few good things happened in the session, many of which were the defeat of bills I thought quite bad. One good bill restored the film tax credit. The worst of those defeated was the so-called “antiracism” ...
The process of sifting our old selves and shedding them is a lifelong adventure. It can also be viewed as a lifelong burden. It all depends on how we look at it. I repeat: the issue is how we look at it. In my own life, the unthinkable once occurred. After 20 years of passionate enthusiasm for ...
Think you’re operating an underground subway station in your lawn? The subterranean railroad activity seems to be at an all-time high, which is perhaps because of the late winter moisture. Areas in the landscape can be as squishy as a kitchen sink sponge. Lots of comings and goings. But ...
A couple of weeks ago, the House of Delegates passed a 10 percent across the board reduction in the state income tax. In some ways I consider this a victory for sanity, but I think it’s still a bad idea. It’s a victory for sanity because it’s an implicit concession on the part of the ...
The Wise Guyde is writing, this month, with the hope that the spirit of Presidents’ Day is still in the air. Hmm . . . does Presidents’ Day have a spirit? Well, here goes. In his Farewell Address in 1796, George Washington warned against the painful politics we are now ...
Could a gardener possibly ask more of a landscape shrub than to display attractive foliage year-round and live up to a low maintenance-reputation? The Shepherdstown home gardener can expect that level of service and even more from the leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei). Fragrant, lemon ...
