The Gardeners' Apprentice WHAT’S NEW After a long day of shoveling out from the latest snowstorm, I love to turn up the setting on my heating pad and relax with the pile of garden catalogs that have accumulated over the past several weeks. Right now I am at the dog-earring of pages and affixing of sticky notes … Read more
HYDRANGEA NEWS In the twenty-first century, all plant stories are international. Plants are developed in one place, registered or patented in various countries and sold everywhere. The plant you buy on a whim at the grocery store might as well have a passport. Its long, international chain of breeders, wholesale growers, large-scale buyers and … Read more
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS Everyone has his or her own vision of heaven. I have several, but one of them looks a lot like a greenhouse full of perfectly grown tuberous begonias, or Begonia x tuberhybrida, in every color of the rainbow. The flowers would be huge and perfect and unobtrusively staked to prevent floppiness. In … Read more
ROYAL ROSES The arrival of garden catalogs in the winter is like snowfall or popping popcorn. The process starts with a few flakes, kernels or catalogs and gradually accelerates until it eventually gets to the point where you have more than you know what to do with. This is going on right now in … Read more
SWEDISH IVY Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania is a living testament to Pierre S. du Pont’s love of gardens and gardening, not to mention his willingness to part with large sums of money to buy and maintain both plants and place. The fabled Mr. du Pont has been gone since 1954, but … Read more
