–Nan Sterman In these hot days of summer, we take pleasure in watering vegetable gardens and fruit trees but we don’t often think about watering pines, liquidambar, magnolia, floss silk, and all the other trees that grow so well in our climate. Once tree roots are deep in the ea

— Nan Sterman While there are lots of great garden products on the market, some are questionable. Weed cloth is one of the questionable products. Is it good? Is it bad? Is there any reason to use it? Weed cloth, weed fabric, weed barrier, and landscape fabric are all names for m

— Nan Sterman They’re sweet, they’re hot, they’re the coolest things around. I’m talking peppers. Big peppers, small peppers, red, orange, purple, yellow, and of course, green. With so many kinds of peppers on the market, you might be surprised to learn that culinary peppers are

— By Nan Sterman This week’s episode of A Growing Passion is “Distant Roots and Tasty Shoots,” a visit to the San Diego Zoo’s amazing plant collections. We tour the Zoo’s orchid house in one of the segments. The orchid house is actually two small greenhouses and an outside area

— Nan Sterman On this Father’s day, I am honoring my grandfather, Ed Miller. Grandpa Eddie, as we called him, is the reason I am a gardener. In one of my earliest memories, I am standing in a “forest” of tomato plants. They tower over my head and I smell the musty fragrance of t

— Nan Sterman One early October afternoon I sat at my computer working on a script for an upcoming episode of A Growing Passion. The house was quiet when I heard a “whoosh” overhead. I looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of speckled feathers. I ducked as a small hawk graze

By Nan Sterman The story behind Homegrown Hops, Local Flavor for Local Brews starts a few years ago.  My daughter called me just before my husband’s birthday. “Mom,” she said, “Groupon has an offer for a beer brewing kit – we should get that as a gift for Dad.” Of course we shou

By Nan Sterman Here’s something I’ve long wondered about. There are more than 4,000 species of bees native to North America, all of which are pollinators. With the problems that European honeybees have had in recent years, are there enough native bees to pollinate our crops instead? E

— Nan Sterman I love to walk down a tree-lined street with a big overhead canopy. The air feels cool and smells good. There are lots of people on the street and they all smile as they walk past. Cars go by a little slower, surely because their drivers enjoy the experience, too.