The Gardeners' Apprentice FALL BEGINS Fall is a time when many gardeners feel a little sad. The gardening season is winding down, the cycle of growth has slowed and the days are shortening. Staying out in the garden until eight o’clock on a glorious weekend day now means that you will end up weeding in the dark. … Read more
TRAVELING PLANTS In 1960, naturalist Gerald Durrell wrote a hilarious book called A Zoo in My Luggage. Over thirty years later, Italian author Umberto Eco wrote a very funny essay entitled “How to Travel With a Salmon.” Aside from a few hitchhiking spiders, I have never come home with any kind of zoo … Read more
CHRYSANTHEMUM CONFLICT I feel very conflicted about chrysanthemums. Like everyone else I spend the fall surrounded by them. In my town there seems to be an ordinance that requires every homeowner to mark the fall season by flanking the front door, porch or stairway with pots of mums. I do it too, because if … Read more
THE HOLDING AREA The time has come to empty out the plant holding area. It’s the end of summer and some of the plants have been hanging on valiantly since the spring, waiting for their turn in the soil. I have watered them, trimmed them and felt extremely guilty about them. In fact, I … Read more
VERBASCUM I am now the proud owner of a Verbascum phoenicium or purple mullein. It’s quite a statuesque individual, with basal clusters of eight inch-long leaves that look like lettuce or spinach. The flower stalk is about three feet tall and completely covered with tiny white flowers whose petals shade to purple at the … Read more
