summer

This week, we’re exploring the sounds of our musical bird friends. Hold on to your cats and open your windows as we listen to music inspired by the cuckoo, a bird whose simple call has been recognized as the onset of spring and summer from the medieval period onwards. This summery bird’s unusual behaviors are also the subject of songs about human relationships.

Continually cut back those plants that are dying back to allow more room for those whose bloom period is yet to come. Every plant needs its time in the sun and to strut its stuff unimpeded.

If you want something in bloom all through the growing seasons in your garden, check that you have these plants.

Our Midwest Hibiscus moscheutos, (a.k.a. swamp mallow), is an herbaceous plant that has flowers that look so exotic that it seems tropical, but it is hardy zones 5-9.

Gayfeather (Liatris spicata) is a lovely native plant that attracts butterflies, bumble bees, and other insects.

The forecast Friday is expected to feel like 102 F.

Many IU students leave Bloomington for the summer hurting local retailers. Schools are turning to those with emergency teaching licenses to fill positions. And the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence.

A local business owner wants to know if her suspicions are true that fewer IU students stayed in Bloomington for the past two summers. Indiana Public Media finds the answer.

After the spring bloomers' flowers faded, I used to have day lily plants that grew up in my beds to disguise the decaying and unsightly bulb foliage. All that changed once the deer in my neighborhood came by in droves and ate all of the day lily foliage.

This version of tomato bread salad includes fresh mozarella.