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357 Articles
If you have a hummingbird feeder in your California yard, you already know the joy of watching those tiny wings blur past. But there is…
By John Miller CA · Aug 2, 2026
Plant Care
A small, shiny lizard with a brilliant blue tail darting under your garden bed is enough to make…
By John Miller CA · Aug 2
Plant Care
Many California homeowners spot a thick-bodied alligator lizard near the woodpile and assume it must be doing something…
By John Miller CA · Aug 2
Plant Care
A large, patterned snake turning up near your raised beds is enough to make most California homeowners freeze,…
By John Miller CA · Aug 2
Plant Care
Moving a log in your California backyard and finding a cluster of small, oblong eggs underneath is one…
By John Miller CA · Aug 1
Plant Care
Crape myrtle looks pretty in summer, but it drinks up water and gives almost nothing back to California’s…
By John Miller CA · Aug 1
Plant Care
Southern alligator lizards are some of the most useful native animals a California homeowner can have passing through…
By John Miller CA · Aug 1
Plant Care
A long, keeled lizard slipping under your garden shed can stop a homeowner cold, especially when it moves…
By John Miller CA · Aug 1
Plant Care
Most California homeowners who spot bats swooping over their patio at dusk feel one of two things: relief…
By John Miller CA · Aug 1
Plant Care
Mud-plastered bumps appearing under your eaves one spring morning are not random – they are the work of…
By John Miller CA · Aug 1
Plant Care
Crape myrtle looks pretty, but it drinks a lot of water during California’s long, dry summers, and that…
By John Miller CA · Jul 31
Plant Care
Most California homeowners who spot a large, patterned snake in the yard reach for a shovel before they…
By John Miller CA · Jul 31
Plant Care
Spotting a boldly banded snake gliding through your California yard can stop you cold, especially if rattlesnakes live…
By John Miller CA · Jul 31
Plant Care
A small, restless cloud of birds sweeps through your rose bushes, hangs upside down from the stems, and…
By John Miller CA · Jul 31
Plant Care
Finding a warty, slow-moving toad in your California yard after dark is the kind of moment that makes…
By John Miller CA · Jul 31
Plant Care
Spotting a scaly, thick-bodied lizard crawling through your garden can catch any California homeowner off guard, especially when…
By John Miller CA · Jul 31
Plant Care
Tiny black beetles are quietly hunting through your garden beds every night, and most California homeowners have never…
By John Miller CA · Jul 30
Plant Care
Finding a large, patterned snake coiled near your garden bed is enough to make anyone freeze. Most California…
By John Miller CA · Jul 30
Plant Care
If your grassy slope drinks water like it is going out of style, there is a better way…
By John Miller CA · Jul 30
Plant Care
Spotting a praying mantis on your tomato cage or rose bush is one of those moments that makes…
By John Miller CA · Jul 30
Plant Care
Crape myrtle looks pretty, but it drinks a lot of water and does almost nothing for California’s bees…
By John Miller CA · Jul 30
Plant Care
Barn owls have a reputation in California wine country as nature’s rodent patrol, and the research behind that…
By John Miller CA · Jul 30
Plant Care
A small group of California quail bobbing through your yard on a quiet morning is one of those…
By John Miller CA · Jul 29
Plant Care
Every fall, colorful orb-weaver spiders show up in California yards and start spinning large, circular webs across garden…
By John Miller CA · Jul 29
Plant Care
A scaly, slow-moving lizard that slips under your garden debris might be doing more for your yard than…
By John Miller CA · Jul 29
Plant Care
Spotting a tiny, cup-shaped nest tucked into a branch of your California yard is one of those surprises…
By John Miller CA · Jul 29
Plant Care
Spotting a praying mantis perched on your tomato cage or rosebush can stop you in your tracks. Most…
By John Miller CA · Jul 29
Plant Care
Many California gardeners plant tropical milkweed with the best intentions, wanting to help monarch butterflies survive and thrive.…
By John Miller CA · Jul 29
Plant Care
That loud, blue-and-gray bird raiding your tomatoes might actually be doing your garden a favor. The California Scrub-Jay…
By John Miller CA · Jul 28
Plant Care
California quail are one of the most recognizable birds in a suburban yard, with their bobbing topknot and…
By John Miller CA · Jul 28
Plant Care
If you’ve noticed a plain brown bird hopping around under your shrubs and flicking leaf litter in every…
By John Miller CA · Jul 28
Plant Care
Most California homeowners see fresh holes in the lawn and immediately blame the skunk waddling through the yard…
By John Miller CA · Jul 28
Plant Care
Praying mantises are one of those backyard creatures that California homeowners genuinely root for, partly because they look…
By John Miller CA · Jul 28
Plant Care
Most California homeowners who spot a scaly, strong-jawed lizard darting under a pot or log have no idea…
By John Miller CA · Jul 28
Plant Care
Orioles are some of the flashiest visitors you can invite into a California yard, with their bright orange…
By John Miller CA · Jul 27
Plant Care
A headline making the rounds says California has banned wood panel fences, and homeowners across the state are…
By John Miller CA · Jul 27
Plant Care
If your boxwood hedge is turning brown and begging for water every dry California summer, you are not…
By John Miller CA · Jul 27
Plant Care
If you live in a fire-prone part of California, that ring of bark mulch around your house might…
By John Miller CA · Jul 26
Plant Care
Pulling weeds all summer gets old fast, especially when California’s dry heat makes bending over the garden feel…
By John Miller CA · Jul 26
Plant Care
For years, a lot of Californians heard “defensible space” and figured it meant ripping out every plant near…
By John Miller CA · Jul 26
Plant Care
If you have ever watched a hummingbird zip right past a full feeder to land on a single…
By John Miller CA · Jul 26
Plant Care
Most California gardeners plant flowers to help bees, and that instinct is exactly right. But a whole group…
By John Miller CA · Jul 26
Plant Care
Rats can turn a peaceful California backyard into a stressful mess, chewing through irrigation lines, raiding fruit trees,…
By John Miller CA · Jul 26
Plant Care
Imagine walking into your local library and checking out packets of seeds instead of books. Across California, seed…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25
Plant Care
Something is chewing its way through California backyard gardens this summer, and if you grow both tomatoes and…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25
Plant Care
California quail are one of the most charming birds you can host in your yard, with their little…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25
Plant Care
You do not need a big backyard to grow real fruit in California. All over the state, homeowners…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25
Plant Care
If your yard is thirsty, struggling in the summer heat, or oddly quiet without bees and birds, the…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25
Plant Care
If you love the soft, swaying look of ornamental grasses but live where wildfire is a real worry,…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25
Plant Care
Every spring, a soft cooing from the backyard signals that a mourning dove has settled into a familiar…
By John Miller CA · Jul 25