Cleaning up an overgrown garden is a little like a soap opera, complete with births, deaths, ambitious characters, opportunists, odd match-ups and thuggish intruders. As a gardener, you act as director and editor, generally simplifying the plot line, cleaning up messy situations, and making the whole more coherent. I did this recently with a garden … Read more
It is rare that I see red about something green, but I am having an angry moment about yucca. Not all yucca, mind you—there are 40 or 50 species of yucca in the larger agave family—but Yucca filamentosa. I suppose that Yucca filamentosa, sometimes called “Adam’s Needle”, is loved in some places and tolerated in … Read more
When I am out walking each day, I look at plants—the manicured specimens maintained by landscape crews, the lovingly grown clumps of annuals and perennials on smaller lots, and even the strays—self seeded individuals growing where they may or may not be wanted. The other day I saw a butterfly bush or Buddleia davidii growing … Read more
Novelist Henry James thought the words “summer afternoon” were the most beautiful in the English language. I love that phrase, especially in July when I am sitting in a shaded spot with a glass of iced tea and a good book. Still, in my mind, “summer afternoon” comes in second to the phrase “sunny Saturday … Read more
My behemoth quince bush has been taken over by a plant that has had more names than a check forger, is bound and determined to run completely out of control, and makes regular, unscheduled appearances in respectable gardens everywhere. Sweet autumn clematis is the plant, and if America’s Most Wanted had a plant list, this … Read more
