A Wrinkled Rose

Everyone has a garden dead zone.  It can be a small area or a larger one where nothing seems to last very long.  You buy plants over and over again that are labeled as “hardy” or “tough”, and install them with high hopes, only to watch helplessly as they struggle and die.  Containers might work … Read more

Closing Down, Opening Up

For those of us in cold winter climates, mid-fall is the time to say a gradual goodbye to flowers.  Annuals will soldier on until the first hard frost, but they are slowing down in anticipation of the inevitable.  Most perennials have finished up, with the exception of a few Montauk daisies, tall sedums, fall crocuses … Read more

Roses in Winter

I grew up in western New York State, where winters were long, snowy and frigid.  But even under those conditions, gardeners loved their roses and did their best to safeguard them against winter’s worst.  My father, who was a romantic and a rose lover, went through an impressive annual winter rose preparation ritual that required … Read more

Rosa Multi-Prickle

I have just done battle with a formidable opponent—one that is tenacious, heavily armed and fully equipped to go on fighting for decades.  This enemy of civilized horticulture has no scruples, guiding ethos or any closet-bound skeletons that would make it susceptible to blackmail.  It is, in short, Rosa multiflora, occasionally known as “the Japanese … Read more

Blanc Double de Coubert

The other day I needed a rose—a special rose with certain very specific characteristics. It had to have beautiful blossoms, decent-looking leaves and a repeat blooming habit. Fragrance was a given. This much-needed plant also had to be pest and disease resistant and require very little care. Hearing all of that, some people might point … Read more