TRAVELING PLANTS In 1960, naturalist Gerald Durrell wrote a hilarious book called A Zoo in My Luggage. Over thirty years later, Italian author Umberto Eco wrote a very funny essay entitled “How to Travel With a Salmon.” Aside from a few hitchhiking spiders, I have never come home with any kind of zoo … Read more
THE HOLDING AREA The time has come to empty out the plant holding area. It’s the end of summer and some of the plants have been hanging on valiantly since the spring, waiting for their turn in the soil. I have watered them, trimmed them and felt extremely guilty about them. In fact, I … Read more
RUNAWAY WISTERIA Many years ago, a well-meaning gardener planted wisteria on the lot next door. She probably intended for it to adorn the arch that sits on the property line. She may have thought the long, purple, pea-like flower bunches would look lovely spiraling along the old wire cemetery fencing that flanked the arch. … Read more
DIGGING UP TROUBLES Not long ago, I had a day that came laden with at least a month’s quota of vexatious people and situations. After eight hours of querulous callers, enervating e-mailers and bureaucratic snafus, I felt like Hamlet when he said, “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses … Read more
GETTING PHYSICAL IN THE GARDEN Three seasons a year, nurseries are full of “easy care” plants. Garden and shelter publications routinely trumpet the virtues of these green wonders, which, if you believe the write-ups, do everything except dig holes and install themselves. In the American nursery business, the trend over the last decade has … Read more
