Hummingbird Attraction

On the garden magic scale, butterflies rank pretty high, but I think hummingbirds stand even higher.  On a normal spring or summer day—provided that your chosen habitat is not a glass office tower—you will probably catch a glimpse of a butterfly, even if it is only a common cabbage white.  The arrival of a hummingbird, … Read more

Cliff Maids

Lewisias are beautiful plants that I include, along with ornamental sweet peas, in my litany of horticultural failure.  A few years ago, I was smitten by a lovely little pink-flowered lewisia that I saw at a plant sale.  I thought I understood its needs, so I brought it home and planted it in a reasonably … Read more

Renard’s Cranesbill

Life is full of dichotomies.  I freely admit to falling madly in love with a different plant every few weeks during the growing season, but I am also remarkably faithful to plants that have served me well over many years.  Hardy geraniums fall into that latter category. Hardy geraniums, also known as cranesbills, are Geraniaceae … Read more

The Incense Rose

Rose lovers owe a lot to English breeder, David Austin, who over the past several decades has led a movement among breeders that has re-introduced fragrance into the world of garden roses.  For several decades after World War II, rose growers focused on other traits, especially the long stems and large, high-centered blooms that characterized … Read more

Charmelia

I blame my daughter for bringing Charmelia into the house.  We have been trading a nasty cold back and forth for weeks, alternating stages so that one of us always has a congested head and the other a hacking cough.  Last week, she was temporarily in the recovery stage of her particular cold and went … Read more