The Gardeners' Apprentice

Hints of Spring

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HINTS OF SPRING             The calendar says that we are about halfway through winter, but I know that spring has just started.  It isn’t a date; it’s a feeling.  Just as winter really starts on the day in early October when the butterflies vanish, spring starts on the day when you can smell the thawing … Read more

Peace

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PEACE             The other day I was getting ready to give a garden talk and thought about my father’s rose garden.  The garden is long gone, but I carry it with me whenever I pick up a trowel and go out into mine. My father, an obstetrician, thought of himself as a student of medicine … Read more

Cheerfulness

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CHEERFULNESS             For the past few months I have read a lot about the art of growing food.  In fact, I have read enough about growing vegetables–in back and front yards, in pots and even in window boxes–to last me for the next ten years.  Toothsome photos of glamorous vegetables, like Multi-colored Swiss chard and … Read more

Hard Times Garden

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HARD TIMES GARDEN             In the past few months I have read scores of articles in gardening and shelter media about gardening in “these times”.  With banks collapsing, mass layoffs taking place and the stock market headed steadily downward, the green-fingered pundits have been just as busy as the political and financial experts.              Every … Read more

Mourning Widow

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MOURNING WIDOW             I have to admit that it is hard to recommend that people spice up their gardens with a plant nicknamed “the mourning widow.”  To add insult to injury, the authoritative guide Hortus Third, describes the species’ flower color as “sordid lilac.”  Both those phrases sound positively Victorian and completely uninspiring.  In reality, … Read more