GHOSTS OF AMARYLLIS PAST This is the time of year when I generally order–or at least contemplate ordering–hybrid amaryllis or Hippeastrum bulbs for holiday gifts and home display. Though the most stalwart of the dahlias, roses, mums and asters are still flowering, hard frosts are just around the corner and the growing season is … Read more
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
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
CAMPSIS RAMBUNCTIOUS There are some plants you should not grow if your garden is smaller than the state of Delaware. One of them is trumpet vine or Campsis radicans. In the marvelous book, Passalong Plants by southern garden writers Felder Rushing and Steve Bender, the latter refers to trumpet vine as a plant that “brings … Read more
POWER TOOLS Last weekend I liberated myself from toil, cast aside romantic notions and joined the ranks of bona fide suburbanites. I used an electric hedge trimmer for the first time. What compelled me to cross this domestic Rubicon? I finally realized that I was completely overmatched in my ongoing battle with the overgrown privet … Read more
