I love garden books so much that my bookshelves are listing under the weight of my collection. Some of those books are reference volumes, but they are in the minority. I favor books that go beyond the “how” of gardening to the “why” of gardening. After all, I can do an internet search and find … Read more
The rose is the Mona Lisa of the plant world. For millennia, humans have coveted them, grown them, celebrated them in every art form and sought out new forms and varieties. Some of us, especially those who have to do hand-to-hand combat with blackspot and other rose diseases, have occasionally cursed them. But the fascination … Read more
Back before the dawn of time and the omnipresence of e-Bay, you used to be able to find dusty little antique shops on side streets in towns and cities all over the country. Those shops were generally filled with equal measures of junk and treasure, though sometimes it seemed that little if any merchandise changed … Read more
Winter has set in for good and even the toughest of the garden flowers have gone the way of all things. I look longingly on the remains of the last fall-blooming crocuses—two brave singletons that bloomed on a warm day last week. Having done their duty, they have folded their petals and taken to their … Read more
One of the best plants in my garden is spiderwort—Tradescantia virginiana. The flowers are a vibrant shade of blue purple and have three petals apiece. Perched at the tops of relatively stout stalks, the blooms appear in clusters. Their lives are short but beautiful–individual flowers last only one day apiece. The long slender leaves curl … Read more
