BOISE -- On a small lot tucked between conventional homes on Boise Avenue in Boise, Mark Lung is hard at work stacking bales of straw and mixing mud.

BOISE -- On a small lot tucked between conventional homes on Boise Avenue in Boise, Mark Lung is hard at work stacking bales of straw and mixing mud.

BURBANK -- The Mid-Columbia Koi and Pond Club will hold a Christmas party Dec. 5 at the home of Randy and Jisica Watkins, 102 Off Place, Burbank.

KENNEWICK -- The Tri-Cities Herb Club will meet from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, on the corner of Dayton Street and Kennewick Avenue in Kennewick.

Togetherness has its place. But sometimes even the most compatible couples need their space.

Do you think you can you create a fabulous centerpiece for your holiday table, plus add some other beautiful touches for less than $30?

This holiday season Home Depot is making it easy and less expensive to upgrade your holiday lights and the power drill to hang them.

RICHLAND -- The Columbia Basin Chapter of the Native Plant Society will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Washington State University Library and Consolidated Information Center, Room 120.

RICHLAND -- Drop box containers will be in place in Richland neighborhoods for the annual yard debris cleanup beginning Nov. 2.

For 23 years, Julie Gore has heated her Ada, Ohio, home with a wood-burning stove.

"How'd you like the towel?" I asked a guy in my household.

New gadgets and gizmos will make your parking space the life of the party before the big game.

Learn how to compost those fall leaves, kitchen waste and other organic matter at a free composting and waste reduction workshop Oct. 10.

Tucked into the hills just above Mariposa High School in California is a cottagelike home and garden -- like a home you might see in Monterey or Carmel -- that's worthy of a magazine layout.

KENNEWICK -- Learn how to create stepping stones, winterize your pond and roses, plant bulbs for spring color, divide perennials and more at the Fall Garden Fest on Oct. 3.

RICHLAND -- Take your questions on roses, and your blooms, to the Monday meeting of the Tri-City Rose Society.

KENNEWICK -- Washington State University Extension Master Gardeners is holding a perennial plant sale today.

Here's a fun craft project that is inexpensive and will help preserve the beauty of your garden.

KENNEWICK -- Learn how to compost those fall leaves at a free composting and waste reduction workshop at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 10 at the Mid-Columbia Library, 1620 S. Union St., Kennewick.

WALLA WALLA -- Enjoy a walk through 10 private gardens in Walla Walla on Sept. 12 and you'll be helping Walla Walla Community Hospice raise money for patient care.

RICHLAND -- Amon Creek volunteers have restored more than 300 yards of old roadbed and need help hand watering the plants.

Sultry summer days have you yearning for cool shade, splashing fountains, the soothing slap of water against pool sides?

Retail may be in a drought, but for many garden supply stores, it's been a green season in more ways than one.

RICHLAND -- Are the plants in your landscaping or kitchen garden looking stressed? Leaves yellowing and limp, colors faded, blooms nearly nonexistent?

Home decorators who once would have dropped thousands of dollars on designer furniture are now, in a down economy, looking at inexpensive, self-assembly pieces from big-box stores as a jumping-off point for more custom designs.

There's good news for Northwest gardeners.

Home decorators who once would have dropped thousands of dollars on designer furniture are now, in a down economy, looking at inexpensive, self-assembly pieces from big-box stores as a jumping-off point for more custom designs.

KENNEWICK -- Sweltering.

As soon as the residence assignments are sent out, some college students are eager to feather their new dorm nest.

Cutting back on clothes shopping means consumers need to take better care of their current wardrobe.

KENNEWICK -- Are appliances, chargers and other electronic equipment sucking your wallet dry?

Chefs know it.

KENNEWICK -- Do you use water wisely in the garden and yard?

WALLA WALLA -- Feel like your green thumb is a bit weak at the knuckle?

KENNEWICK -- Creating a garden oasis out of a 16-by-16 patio outside her condo's back door didn't take a miracle, "just a lot of creativity," said Lee Petkevicius of Kennewick.

Recession? What recession?

RICHLAND -- A cardinal red hybrid tea rose, Precious Platinum, took top honors at the 61st annual Tri-City Rose Society's 61st annual show held May 24 at the Shilo Inn in Richland.

Color choices in furniture over the past decade have been mostly "brown, brown or more brown," said Louis Slone, owner of Slone Brothers Furniture in Longwood, Fla.

Summer is a great time to make vacation plans.

Selling your home in today's depressed market might be as ambitious as drumming up positive PR for Britney Spears.

A treehouse, a riot of colorful roses framed by a headboard and a hillside tamed by terraces are just a few of the highlights of the Academy of Children's Theatre Secret Garden Tour on June 13-14.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Manufacturers are hitting pay dirt with recycled products designed for the garden.

BURBANK -- The Mid-Columbia Koi and Pond Club will meet at 5 p.m. June 13 at the home of Jisica and Randy Watkins, 102 Off Place, Burbank.

KENNEWICK -- The usual dazzling display of blooms at the Tri-City Rose Society's annual show may be slightly less lavish this year.

WALLA WALLA -- Bugs eating your veggies?

PASCO -- Learn what to look for when buying garden tools, how to care for roses and pick up some tips on landscape design at a series of free classes at Job's Nursery north of Pasco.

KENNEWICK -- There are few home improvement projects Art Hovley won't tackle. Even if he has to drive more than 600 miles to do it -- at his brother's house.

YAKIMA -- Explore the world of miniature trees.

Late spring signals the arrival of special spring visitors -- those flighty little jewels called hummingbirds.

KENNEWICK -- Love to have fresh flowers in the house but your thumb's brown, not green?