CARPETING A few weeks ago, I wrote about my ongoing study of pioneering Irish gardener and writer, William Robinson (1848-1935). The measure of a good garden writer is the degree to which he or she inspires you to pick up a trowel and run out into your own garden. Though much of his … Read more
LILY ENVY “Envy” is such a nasty word. So is “covet.” Since I like to avoid nasty words when discussing plants, I will settle for “admire,” as in, “I admire other people’s lilies to distraction.” With or without the euphemisms, this emotion has gotten to be a seasonal habit. Just as I generally wake … Read more
GARDENER’S APPRENTICE #694 VERBENA My plant palate has expanded to include verbena. This is a development that would make any number of my gardening friends laugh, since verbena is a tried and true, “grandmother’s garden” plant. In its latest hybrid incarnations, verbena flaunts its charms from the shelves of every plant retailer in America. … Read more
PLANTS GONE WILD If I were making a garden reality video right now, it would be titled “Plants Gone Wild.” I would film it on location in my upper back garden, a fifteen by twenty foot area that is home to a rose covered arch and a rose-covered pillar, three other rose bushes, several … Read more
LIVINGSTONE DAISY My back porch is large and sunny and has always been the perfect port of call for vacationing indoor plants, not to mention pots of herbs and a few containers of colorful summer-flowering specimens. This year those few pots have swelled into an ocean of flowering annuals, courtesy of my bloom-besotted daughter. … Read more
