I am a student of gardening history, especially in the winter, when actual gardening activities are necessarily limited. Sometimes in my reading, catalog perusal and other armchair activities, certain tantalizing figures pop up repeatedly. This happened recently with Lady Beatrix Stanley, whom I found waltzing across the pages of a snowdrop catalog, dancing through listings … Read more
We all make New Year’s resolutions. By now, with winter’s gray days weighing heavily upon us, many have already been broken. But gardening resolutions are different. Those of us in cold winter climates haven’t had the chance to break any resolutions yet, because those resolutions depend on our ability to break the frozen ground. We … Read more
At this time of the year, I long for good scents. The evocative holiday aromas—evergreens, baked goods, mulled cider—are gone with the decorations. All we have left are the unique olfactory signatures of things like wet wool, musty basements and, for pet owners, damp dogs. It is depressing. It would be so much better to … Read more
In the great book of gardening truths, one truth stands out: a gardener’s reach always exceeds his or her grasp. Passionate gardeners dream big, but they are always short of time, sunny days, available space and—inevitably—money. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Lack of cash or at least the necessity of sticking to a … Read more
Despite the wide availability of relatively cheap cut flowers, a rose in winter always seems like a small miracle. It seemed perfectly fitting last week that I glimpsed some of those miraculous winter blooms adorning a church Advent wreath. The roses were pale purple, in keeping with the Christian tradition of using that color for … Read more
