Daisies: Surprisingly Complicated Flowers
Recently, I have been marveling over the complexities of the common daisy. Daisies belong to the family Asteraceae, a family that contains…
Guest Columns
Responsible Gardening
A packet of seeds, meant to catch my eye, arrived in the mail. A seed company in a faraway state, trying to get my business, wants me to look at their catalog. Its strategy backfired. I’m not happy with the little gift; in fact, I’m rather huffy about it. The colorful packet featured a watercolor image of several different unidentifiable….
Vote Yes on Aura
On Wednesday, the Chapel Hill Town Council will be considering the Aura project, a mixed-use infill project at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive. We believe this is an excellent and appropriate project on a rare, transit-convenient piece of Chapel Hill land.
Council’s Vote on Aura Will Leave a Legacy
After the May 26 Chapel Hill Town Council public hearing about the Aura development plan, I wonder if it is too late for a better project for the Butler property at the corner of MLK Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive.
What Makes a Great Plant?
As any gardener will tell you, there are lots of good plants out there but few truly great plants. This got me thinking: What makes a plant great? Bob Solberg, hybridizer extraordinaire of hostas and owner of Green Hill Hostas in Franklinton, wrote an article on great hostas…
Consequences of Yet Another Dense Apartment Development
Over the last years, our town has seen a tremendous increase in high-density apartment developments. Aura is yet another proposed apartment development at the corner of MLK Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive.
Council and Mayor: Where Are Your Priorities?
Chapel Hill Town Council held its final public hearing on the Aura proposal on May 26. I ‘attended’ and was a guest speaker at that meeting (via Zoom).
Council Lowers Standards for Affordable Housing
When I served on the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, another board member complained at a meeting about people advocating for Community House…
Window Dressing
Have I mastered the art of planting containers or just gotten bored? I stalk the garden centers looking for inspiration, but my mind goes blank, so my containers end up looking pretty much the same as last season.
Climbing Versus Rambling Roses
During the height of the pandemic, because there was little else to ponder, I began wondering what distinguishes rambling roses from climbing roses…
Short-Term Rentals Erode Neighborhoods
Money, Money, Money … Mon- NEY. Remember that song? Please don’t let this become the rudder steering town council decisions. I hope that you will do your level best to think independently with conscience.
Mammals on the Move
As spring progresses, we’re seeing more mammals on the move. Those whom we unfortunately see dead alongside — or on — roads often include members of the rodent group: groundhogs…
University Place in Chapel Hill is Open for Business
There’s a shopping center in Chapel Hill that’s fun to visit because many longtime Chapel Hill retailers are at the helm and their experience adds to the…
A Plea for Contrast
In April I attended a Zoom presentation on plant diversity led by Tony Avent of Plant Delights fame. This old dog learned some new tricks — and I suddenly understood what I had done right in my garden and what I had done wrong.
Historic Preservation
Historic preservation has been around forever. In one form or another, people have always wanted to maintain the past – the old homeplace – while at the same time inviting in the new.
The New Old Normal
It’s not over. The pandemic. But it’s close enough to almost being close enough to almost being close enough to being over. Or maybe it’s inching toward as-over-as-it’s-going-to-get land.
Rethinking the Rose Garden
The horticulturalists at Sarah P. Duke Gardens are busy redesigning the rose garden, one they had completely overhauled just five years ago. Ten years ago, the garden…
Masking Down in the New Not-Normal
For all y’all who’ve gotten your shots, and in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new masking guidelines, this week I’m offering…
This Column is a Yawn
How can you get more zzzzs and feel more rested? And do you really want to wait till you get all the way to the end of the alphabet? As we have previously explained, good sleep is essential…
Let’s Go to the Beach
One of the benefits of living in North Carolina is our long, hospitable coast. From Corolla to Sunset Beach, miles of beaches with inviting names: Waves, Southern Shores, Emerald Isle.
Aura Traffic Model: Expedience Over Accuracy
Our town traffic engineer chose the proposed Aura development as the first scenario to analyze using Chapel Hill’s new townwide traffic model, concentrating on the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive. The model included traffic improvements to this intersection…
Welcome to the Midway
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro border, one block east of where Franklin Street melds into Main Street, is home to a concentration of creative energy and retro-innovation where the businesses are chic…
Botanizing Finds: The Fascinating Bloodroot
I do my botanizing while walking our dog. Puppy isn’t very patient, so I have to be quick about it, but I regularly manage to find interesting plants…
Traffic Engineers Say Delays Will Be Reduced at MLK Blvd / Estes Intersection
A mixed-use project proposed by Trinsic Residential Group for the corner of Estes Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, if approved by Chapel Hill Town Council, would transform…
The Pocket Shrine: Mom in a Matchbox
In my hand I hold a matchbox. The old school kind — wooden matches with cherry red tips inside. But that’s not all that’s in this matchbox, nor is setting a fire its function.
Integrity of Planning Process at Stake in Aura Vote
Planning and zoning are valuable tools intended to guide the town’s development and growth to ensure a livable town that is sustainable, accessible, healthy and safe for all
Choice of Hubert Davis Inspires
Growing up as a kid in the nineties, Allen Buansi remembers watching Hubert Davis, then a member of the New York Knicks, on TV…
Thanks to Service and Hospitality Workers for Delivering Hope
This long and arduous year imposed on us and the world a darkness we have never known, but we…
What on Earth Did I Order?
In the delirium of winter, I tend to go on an ordering spree of plants that will arrive the following April. It’s a good time to order because the nurseries haven’t yet run out of the hot new plants; the winter garden looks relatively bare; and there’s nothing much to do in January…
Sleeping On It
We wake up in the morning and talk about how we couldn’t sleep during the night. My wife notes that she woke at 1:45, 3:19 and for good at 6:53. Competitive as always, I counter…
Post COVID Event Planning in Orange County, NC
North Carolina is continuing to see fast and fair vaccine distribution. Now as the weather heats up, inquiries to the Visitors Bureau have increased with a similar theme…
An Elusive Bird Draws Crowds
The Brumley Nature Reserves (North and South) are popular recreation sites for walkers, hikers, nature observers and birders. Springtime is especially nice when the birds fill the air…
Taking a Busman’s Holiday
With shots in arms and no ill effects and, thus, feeling giddy with liberation, good wife Lynne and I have done what so many other pent-up septuagenarians have done…
Beware of Some Pass-Along Plants
Last week I extolled the virtues of the Southern tradition of pass-along plants. Sometimes the only way to acquire a plant that is no longer at the…
Bringing Tourism Back
Like spring itself, the world feels like it’s rising again, about to bloom in the coming summer sun. In this new and brighter light we have an opportunity to see what’s changed and how we can do what we did before in new and better ways…
Our Southern Spring Unfolds
I love the long unfolding of our Southern springs. My daughter, Lilli Brown, and I recite all the multisyllable Greek goddess-like names of the flowers as they emerge — camellia, hellebore…
Little Big Man 1967
The young boy sits astride his tricycle like a judge holding court. Barefoot, he affixes the photographer with an intelligent, penetrating gaze. Maybe he is thinking…
Pass-along Plants: A Great Southern Tradition
Gardeners are among the most generous people in the world, eager to share their success with other plant lovers.
Buildings Emerge from Model Collaboration
In 2008, the tree-covered and spacious Glen Lennox neighborhood was jolted out of its 1950s family atmosphere when the owner, Grubb Properties, put forth redevelopment plans for the entire 66-acre, 440-apartment property.
The Real College Deadline
By now, most kids in Chapel Hill and in other quaint little towns and big cities across America have already chosen their college. Or, if they’ve decided not to attend college, they’ve joined the military or, at the very least, have planned their next big bank heist.