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​ Photo by Emily Lovallo of her beautiful hellstrip garden bed on S. Graham Street. If you live in the city, you probably know that skinny little patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street. Some folks call it the sidewalk strip, the planting strip, or even the hellstrip! If you’re lucky, maybe you have a street tree growing there (yay!), but more often it’s just a neglected spot with grass, weeds, or maybe some bricks or rocks. But here’s the fun part: if you’re look

Photo: An abandoned hummingbird nest I spotted at the Audubon Society at Beechwood Farms. The eggs (not real) are the size of a jelly bean! Hummingbirds are on their way to Pittsburgh, and it’s the perfect time to get your yard ready for these tiny visitors! The very first one was spotted in the Hill District neighborhood on April 10. I keep up with their journey thanks to some bird-loving friends who share updates from the Hummingbird Tracker at Hummingbird Central. These li

My neighbor's pup, River, in a bed of crocuses. ​It’s an unusually warm early spring day, windows open, and I can hear two dogs happily greeting each other outside. It got me thinking — garden season is almost here, and so many of my Garfield neighbors share their yards and gardens with their pets. If you’ve ever asked, “What can I plant that’s safe for my pets?”, you’re not alone! My friend Crystal, owner of Rust Belt Natives nursery in Hazelwood, gets this question all the