One of the sad realities of my suburban life is that lawn grass grows best in a single segment of my property—the garden beds. The green blades struggle in the backyard, perpetual losers in the never-ending competition with ajuga, clover, wild violets and broadleaf weeds. The grass issue in back is exacerbated by the fact … Read more
My daughter, Kate, and I were cruising the aisles of a large, well-stocked garden center last week when we noticed rapid movement in a display of bee balm or monarda. The garden center was full of butterflies and small birds swooped in and out of the covered plant areas, but it was clear the movement … Read more
Late spring is iris time, when iris, from the little crested varieties—Iris cristata—to the tall, buxom, cultivated descendants of German or Iris germanica burst into bloom. A few miles from my home, the fabulous Presby Iris Garden is a mass of color, with an almost unimaginable array of iris spilling from its beds. My gardens … Read more
The English are masters of gardening and garden writing, but they tend towards dramatic understatement. The Royal Horticultural Society, for example, described perennial polemonium as a plant that “often seeds itself around rather freely.” Generally a statement like that means that the plant is prolific to the point of invasiveness and is best planted by … Read more
I have always told people that there are no headaches in the garden. There are also no social faux pas, ranting politicians or demanding bosses. Some people, of course, bring those things into the garden because they refuse to be parted from their electronic devices. I try to avoid co-mingling of digging and devices because … Read more
