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
EVICTING THE ROSE I am not very good at ending relationships–even with inanimate objects. My cellar is full of gadgets with which I once had a passionate involvement. Years may have gone by since the last encounter, but I still find it difficult to get them out of my life and off my premises. … Read more
CAROLINA SILVERBELL An old Greek proverb says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” With the heavy, rocky soil the way it is around here, many old men would be hard pressed to dig a hole big enough to plant a tree. However, … Read more
GARDEN FINANCE Today I am going to the garden center to buy two spools of twine. I will be purposeful and single-minded, immune to the charms of blooming plants and sexy gardening equipment. No matter what happens, I will not come home with a blue-flowered agapanthus, a new rosebush and a couple of flats … Read more
BIRD’S-FOOT TREFOIL For as long as I can remember, a small yellow-flowered plant has bloomed reliably every year on the edges of highways near our summer cottage in Central New York State. I have discovered it closer to home as well, and I suspect that if I were to walk along country roads in … Read more
