Spring comes every year and, in general, the average garden looks its best in the months of April, May and June. Green returns to the landscape, plants leap out of the earth, and the weeds haven’t had a chance to grow to the epic sizes they sometimes reach in the summer. Gardeners are also fresh … Read more
Three decades ago, the late American humorist, Erma Bombeck, published a book titled, The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. I don’t have a septic tank, so I can’t attest to the validity of that statement, but I do know that the houseplants are always healthier over the microwave. There is probably a … Read more
For years, one of the highpoints of my gardening year was the annual arrival of the lush print catalog from Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin. The book was plump, rife with beautiful illustrations and featured a stunning array of gorgeous, romantic plants, especially peonies, daylilies, hostas, lilacs and flowering crabapples. Paging through the … Read more
For millennia, the scent of lavender, botanically known as Lavendula, has been renowned for its ability to promote calm, consolation and even pain relief. For those reasons and many others, I grow this well-loved herb in my garden. I don’t have a dedicated herb garden, but I am increasingly using lavender throughout my mixed borders. … Read more
Every year I vow to try new plants in the garden—not necessarily flashy new trademarked hybrids, but species that I haven’t grown before. This year, my first new species comes courtesy of my daughter, who has no garden of her own, but is always on the lookout for plants for me. This year she found … Read more
