REDBUD EXPLOSION With all the noise about European debt, American presidential elections and the international plague of reality television, you may not have noticed that we are in the midst of a redbud explosion. Breeders have taken the common Eastern Redbud–Cercis canadensis–and dressed it in flashy foliage, changed its growth habit and adorned it … Read more
GUILT FREE FOXGLOVES I really should write a column about growing tomatoes. The catalogs are coming in fast and furious now, and they are full of tomatoes and other edibles. Even nurseries like White Flower Farm, longtime bastion of ornamental plants, are selling at least a few tomatoes, strawberry plants and berry bushes. … Read more
SPRING ORDERS Spring is leaping up from the pages of the catalogs that arrive by snail mail every day. The e-mail traffic from the plant vendors is also surging, with new offers and enticements appearing on an hourly basis. My head spins at the color and the variety. My heart sinks–but only a little–at … Read more
CLARA BUTT Tastes and fashions change, but even at a time when artists go by interesting names like “Lady Gaga,” it is hard to imagine a world renowned singer saddled with the name “Clara Butt.” There was such a person, however, and she lived from 1872 to 1936. The tulip named after her, saved … Read more
THE COPELAND CLAN I love garden catalogs, which is a good thing because I get scores of them every year. Some of the most interesting are specialty catalogs dedicated to a single genus like tomatoes or roses or African violets. It amazes me to think that I could plant my entire garden–or at … Read more
