There are lots of reasons to like silver plants.

Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden

The nature of each season has distinct sounds, smells and scenes.

This time of year, wind rustles crisp leaves from trees and scurries them along the ground. The fragrance of fall is the rich, earthy aroma of decaying plants. Perhaps best of all are the scenic reds, golds and other colors of the season.

A familiar voice returned to my landscape a couple of weeks ago after nearly a decade away. It's a voice that I first heard here nearly 20 years ago.

The vocal Eastern screech owl (Megascops asio) is a tiny thing, only six to 10 inches tall and weighing four to eight ounces. Its colors range from brownish-gray to reddish-brown. It's one of the few birds that have several color variations within the same range and brood. Their coloration resembles the bark of trees so the variation may be a camouflage....