MISS WILLMOTT’S GHOST Every gardener has an inner Ellen Willmott. An Englishwoman born into wealth in 1858, she was bitten early and hard by the gardening bug. In her prime she gardened, read, studied, patronized fabled plant hunters and employed hundreds of gardeners to tend her plants. She eventually lavished so much money on … Read more
A SUCCESSFUL YEAR The summer of 2007 was the year of the garden imperative, as I worked nearly every day to get my garden ready for a mid-summer wedding and a late summer garden tour. The summer of 2008 had no such imperative, but in some ways it was even better. Results took a … Read more
RETURNING LIGHT As a gardener my life has always been defined by the seasons. Every year at this time I feel hope rise as I count down the days to the Winter Solstice. Of course, December twenty-second has only a tiny amount more daylight than December twenty-first, but I know that every day afterwards … Read more
BEAUTYBERRY My daughter had a teacher once who was in love with the color purple. She wore purple clothes, decorated her classroom with purple objects and gave out “purple owl” stickers to students who excelled in any way. As far as I know, her prose was never purple, but sometimes her ink was. I … Read more
