SWEETSHRUB Some shrubs are useful but annoying. Privet falls into that category, especially when massed into a hedge. In my experience, the top and sides of a privet hedge need trimming every other week during the growing season and the base is invariably full of noxious weeds. Privet and poison ivy, for example, … Read more
ROSA MUNDI All winter I have been having a crisis of conscience about the enormous stand of miscanthus grass that presides over an area on the south side of my house. Now, just as the light has returned to the landscape after winter’s darkness, I have seen the future of the miscanthus, and it … Read more
TULIP DILEMMA Right now, as the first daffodils are opening in the warmer, more sheltered spots in my home town, I am awash in a high tide of gardening magazines. Their pages are overflowing with gorgeous photo spreads of spring gardens and all of those gardens are full of tulips. The bright flowers are … Read more
ITALY COMES TO PHILADELPHIA I can say without the slightest hesitation that my daughter, husband and even the cats have better social lives than I do. I envy them 364 days a year. The one exception is the day I go to the Philadelphia Flower Show. The Flower Show is the biggest annual … Read more
RED SALVIA I have never had annual red salvia or Salvia splendens in any of my gardens, but now I find myself thinking about it. My father grew it every year in a long bed in front of our back porch. I don’t remember seeing it happen, but I am pretty sure that he … Read more
