You won’t find a lot of men wearing boutonnieres or, in the more prosaic English translation, “buttonholes”, these days. Individual blooms stuck through the buttonhole of a jacket or pinned to a lapel are still on view at weddings, proms and other festive events, but the days when fashionable, suit-wearing men wore a fresh flower … Read more
Back in the 1930’s, British writer Margery Allingham introduced a new amateur sleuth to the world of whodunits. His name was Albert Campion, a gentleman detective in the mold of Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey. Pundits differ on how Allingham arrived at Campion’s name, but there are references in the books to rose campion or … Read more
Three decades ago, the late American humorist, Erma Bombeck, published a book titled, The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. I don’t have a septic tank, so I can’t attest to the validity of that statement, but I do know that the houseplants are always healthier over the microwave. There is probably a … Read more
For years, one of the highpoints of my gardening year was the annual arrival of the lush print catalog from Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin. The book was plump, rife with beautiful illustrations and featured a stunning array of gorgeous, romantic plants, especially peonies, daylilies, hostas, lilacs and flowering crabapples. Paging through the … Read more
Early spring is usually the time for the little flowers, like snowdrops, winter aconite and crocus. Though their stature is small, they emerge from the winter-drab earth in flashes of color. After a few weeks they give way to the flashier daffodils and tulips, which in turn bow out in favor of peonies and roses, … Read more
