Japanese Painted Fern

I have friends and relatives who are nuts about ferns, from great big ostrich ferns to small ground-hugging varieties. In spring, these fern lovers take walks in damp, muddy woods just to see the young fronds, or fiddleheads, before they unfurl. In summer, they pour water on their prized ferns to keep them from curling … Read more

Banishing Darkness

There are some commercial locations that just seem jinxed.  Businesses move in, last for a year or so and then die, only to be replaced by other businesses that repeat the pattern, sometimes for years on end.  I have a garden bed like that.  Every year I try to find a perfect landscape solution for … Read more

Messy, Messy

I love my cottage-style garden, with its masses of flowers and greenery.  At my place, the garden has plenty of classical elements including brick paths, hedges and stone walls, but the plants rule the roost. The flip side of all that cottage garden charm is that masses of flowers and greenery can easily become messes … Read more

Hearts on Fire

Bleeding heart—Lamprocapnos spectabilis–has shed seeds, if not blood, all over my garden.  I probably planted the first one deliberately ten years ago, though I have no memory of doing so.  Now, they are everywhere.  Normally those words would constitute the start of a rant about garden thuggery.  In this case, however, I have no complaint.  … Read more

Begonias–A Moment in the Sun

These days plant dealers need specimens that do the following things: look good ninety-eight percent of the time; provide reliable color or interest; perform in part shade; flourish in gardens or containers and require very little care.  Breeders have slaved over certain perennial plant genera, including heuchera, tiarella and brunnera, in an effort to produce … Read more