If homeowners and their homeowners associations cannot bear the thought of a brown spot on a lawn during the summer, I wonder what they must be thinking now when there is scarcely a green blade of grass to be found, except maybe under some trees. It cannot have escaped anyone's notice that we had a hard freeze recently. That doesn't happen every year, any more than hurricanes or droughts are necessarily annual events. It is at times like these when we find out how well or poorly our landscapes have been designed, installed and maintained. ...more

March 22, 2009

Despite efforts to add Border Patrol agents to areas where immigrant traffic is high and drug violence is flaring, officers assigned to the 2,000-mile boundary with Mexico are bunched up near the California coast. And some critics see politics at play. ...more

August 31, 2008

Florida summers are a great time for planting. One good storm can drop 1 to 3 inches of rain, which soaks into the soil and encourages roots to follow. Plants with deep roots will grow up to be drought-tolerant. ...more

May 29, 2008

Florida summers are a great time for planting. One good storm can drop 1 to 3 inches of rain, which soaks into the soil and encourages roots to follow. Plants with deep roots will grow up to be drought-tolerant. ...more

May 28, 2008

"How," Rudy Giuliani asked a sweaty crowd of snowbirds and Northeastern transplants in Estero, Fla., the other day, "can you not be happy when you're here?" ...more

January 27, 2008

They met 45 years ago, two women in the same dorm and the same sorority. ...more

December 30, 2007