Blog

{Compost} Bin, Bake, Bugs
Yeah, we know it's good for the planet. But what the glossy mags and blog posts don't tell you is that composting has its very dirty downside: bugs and vermin. Here, gardening columnist Darbi Davis lifts the lid (ouch) on composting without the icky live audience....

{Chickens} In the Desert
Chickens offer a bounty of handy yard services. But for desert dwelling chickens there are a few need-to-knows. By Darbi Davis. Cover photo by Jocelyn Warner-Brokamp It’s hard to forget that time the economy plunged – the country was laden with lost jobs and...

{Compete} Growdown!
In the annual Growdown! competition, landscape designers compete to create a new space in 24 hours. Our gardening columnist Darbi Davis meets the finalists and finds out what's new this year. (Scroll to the bottom for the winners.) Cover photo courtesy of Scott...

{Trends} In the Garden
Darbi Davis brings you three things to brighten your outside in 2015.

{Decor} Outdoor
Darbi Davis brings ordinary plants inside for some seasonal pzazz.

{Tradition} Day of the Dead
Every issue, landscape designer Darbi Davis digs deep to bring you stories for your outdoor space. This month we celebrate la flor de la muerte, the marigold. This Sunday’s All Souls Procession in Tucson will be packed full of the symbolism that surrounds the Mexican...

{History} Mid Mod Landscapes
Every issue, landscape designer Darbi Davis digs deep to bring you stories for your outdoor space. This month: how to spot a mid-century yard. Mod-scaped gardens surrounding 1950’s and '60s homes are dotted throughout the west, and Tucson has a few time capsules not...

{History} The Front Porch
Every issue, landscape designer Darbi Davis digs deep to bring you stories for your outdoor space. This month: why porches are in full swing again. As summer ever…so…slowly…slips into fall, we emerge from our chilled dens and happily dust off our porches – a special...

{Bugs} In the Garden
Every issue, landscape designer Darbi Davis digs deep to bring you stories for your outdoor space. This month: how to love your bugs. For desert dwellers, the bloody hell of summer is marked by songs of the cicada and a menagerie of insects ready to devour your...

{Radical} Flowers & Bullets Part II
Every issue, landscape designer Darbi Davis digs deep to bring you stories for your outdoor space. In the second of a two-part series on gardening cooperative Flowers & Bullets, she finds a community warming to their mission. When Ramon Ramirez approached his...