Europeans have always been crazy about hedges. In England they are practically a religion. We Americans, with our love of wide open spaces and vast suburban lawns, have generally been less hedge-crazy. It isn’t that we don’t like shrubs. In the twentieth century we have used everything from salix to sand cherry to conceal the … Read more
Sometime in 1765, American botanist John Bartram and his son, William, were prowling through what is now the state of Georgia in search of new and unusual plants. While botanizing near the banks of the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia, they found a group of interesting trees or large shrubs with white, camellia-like flowers. In … Read more
At this time of the year in my area you could throw a stone in any direction and hit a winged euonymus, which sounds like it should be some kind of a dragon or at least an exotic dragonfly. In fact it is only a shrub, known botanically as Euonymus alatus. Landscapers, catalog vendors and … Read more
I love it when my nears and dears give me garden-related gifts during the holidays. Any kind of plant is welcome, especially flowering ones. Gardening gifts are sometimes a little more problematic, because I am not a gadget person. That said, some of the best gifts have been very basic. Long ago, I received a … Read more
The bulb shipments have all arrived now, which is like Christmas coming early. Little brown bags and mesh sacks litter the table on the covered part of the back porch where only a month ago we ate weekend lunches and dinners. Now it is home to all kinds of spring-blooming treasures. One of those small … Read more
