The Gardeners' Apprentice Solidago and symphyotrichum are a perfect couple. You might not recognize their tongue-twisting names, but I guarantee that they are now appearing side by side at locations near you. Those locations might be railroad rights-of-way, country roadsides and other untenanted spaces, including overgrown suburban lots. When hanging out in such information settings, solidago and symphyotrichum … Read more
WEEPING WILLOW By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps Those exiled Israelites of Psalm 137, weeping by the waters of Babylon, could not have known that centuries later, a Chinese tree with long, drooping branches would be christened Salix babylonica … Read more
If you are hoping to grow an olive tree in eastern North America and proudly incorporate your homegrown fruits into martinis, tapenade, or empanadas, you are destined for disappointment. The handsome European olive—Olea europaea—needs a warm winter climate to produce its toothsome harvest. But other members of the Oleaceae or olive family do flourish farther … Read more
I love to walk—in my neighborhood, my town and wherever I vacation. I never wear headphones or talk on my phone, because I like to save my senses for the small worlds that I encounter on my way. Good suburbanite that I am, I always take stock of the neighbors’ gardens. But I am also … Read more
About ten years ago, a friend gave me a single large iris rhizome division. It was from a tall, bearded type that grew in carefree splendor in her western New York garden. I planted it in the free-draining soil at our family’s summer cottage in Central New York and it grew, or maybe “grew” is … Read more
