I have always wanted to visit Virginia for Garden Week, a seven or eight day extravaganza during which notable homes and gardens all over the state are open to the public. This year I finally had the chance to get to Virginia and it was a feast for the senses. One of the best parts … Read more
At this time of the year we celebrate spring by rushing out to the garden centers and buying flats of pansies and violas. We breathe the warming air and fill up our window boxes, pots and borders with these spring avatars. And then we turn around and try to exterminate their cousins, the common violets, … Read more
Right now I have patches of snowdrops coming into bloom. The earliest appeared on Christmas day, followed by a long fallow period while winter did its worst. Now, the daylight hours last longer and the snowdrops are brave enough to emerge. I have a score of different varieties, but my favorite—the one I have been … Read more
I am a student of gardening history, especially in the winter, when actual gardening activities are necessarily limited. Sometimes in my reading, catalog perusal and other armchair activities, certain tantalizing figures pop up repeatedly. This happened recently with Lady Beatrix Stanley, whom I found waltzing across the pages of a snowdrop catalog, dancing through listings … Read more
Somewhere out in my yard, General Köhler lies sleeping peacefully under a light blanket of snow. I expect he is snoring, or would be, if he were not a hyacinth bulb waiting for the earth to warm up next spring. These days merchandisers frequently name plants according to purported ease of cultivation—“Oso Easy” and “Hasslefree” … Read more
