JASMINE The other night I was watching director Richard Lester’s 1973 version of The Three Musketeers. It is one of my favorite films and every time I watch it I am struck by the way Lester captured the feel of mid-seventeenth century France–complete with lechery, debauchery and dirt, not to mention livestock in the … Read more
YELLOW CLIVIA The small plant nursery on top of my microwave oven has a new resident. The yellow clivia that I have coveted for years finally arrived last week. As befits its horticultural importance and stature as an object of desire, I have potted it up in a four-inch terra cotta pot made by … Read more
HARDY CYCLAMEN I am a great advocate of getting down on your knees and weeding. It’s very bad for the weeds, because there is no escape for them when a gardener gets so close to the earth. It’s very good for you because it provides a completely different perspective than the one you see … Read more
MILES TO GO When I started on my personal garden perfection project last February, I gave myself one year to make the garden so lovely that I wouldn’t be ashamed to take a page from garden writer Beverley Nichols’ book and invite anyone and everyone to see it. In between then and now I’ve … Read more
GROUNDHOG Groundhogs are pests, but they have inspired a lot of fine writing. Michael Pollan, in his wonderful book Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education, includes a very funny section on futile strategies and stratagems for groundhog elimination. William Alexander, writer, gentleman farmer and author of The $64 Tomato, wrote “You may be smarter, but … Read more
