STANDARDIZATION I have always hated trimming shrubs–and by trimming I am referring to the taming of our long privet hedges by clipping them straight across the top to achieve a level height. Even now that I have violated my personal rule about power tools and mastered the electric hedge trimmer, the task is tedious. … Read more
THOUSANDS OF STARS There are many reasons to grow garden asters. Butterflies of every description flock to them, as do the bees so essential for pollination. Asters are mostly carefree, giving you more time to thumb through bulb catalogs, pull the weeds that persist in coming up, and finish all the chores that you … Read more
CHINESE LANTERNS I am always searching for plants that make great combinations. Right now, fall asters are everywhere. In the “waste spaces”–ditches, roadsides and undeveloped areas–wild white asters predominate. Home gardens and retailers’ establishments display a stunning array of pink, purple, blue purple and white cultivated varieties. I am especially partial to the dark blue-purple … Read more
BULB RULES I was wandering around the local big box store the other day and in my enthusiasm over the cheapness of the chrysanthemums, I walked right into an enormous crate loaded with bags of daffodil bulbs. That painful jolt made me recall that I put “order bulbs” on my to-do list back in August, … Read more
NERINE OR LYCORIS A month or so ago I made a trip to Austerlitz, New York to tour the house and gardens of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. The property, called Steepletop, after a flowering shrub that flourishes in the area, was Millay’s primary residence from 1925 until her death in 1950. Both house and … Read more
