LAYERS OF MEANING For years I have wondered why I can’t love the ‘Knock Out’ rose. Millions of people sing its praises every day, including some well-known plant pundits. By all accounts it is a stellar garden performer. ‘Knock Out’s confront me at every turn–in private borders and public plantings–but I still can’t warm … Read more
SWEET WILLIAM What do you make of a plant that goes by both “sweet William” and “stinking billy?” The plant in question is Dianthus barbatus, a member of the carnation or Caryophyllaceae family. Gardeners have loved, planted and known the species best as sweet William. I don’t know where the “William” came from, but … Read more
HYDRANGEA NEWS In the twenty-first century, all plant stories are international. Plants are developed in one place, registered or patented in various countries and sold everywhere. The plant you buy on a whim at the grocery store might as well have a passport. Its long, international chain of breeders, wholesale growers, large-scale buyers and … Read more
NERINE OR LYCORIS A month or so ago I made a trip to Austerlitz, New York to tour the house and gardens of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. The property, called Steepletop, after a flowering shrub that flourishes in the area, was Millay’s primary residence from 1925 until her death in 1950. Both house and … Read more
CAMPSIS RAMBUNCTIOUS There are some plants you should not grow if your garden is smaller than the state of Delaware. One of them is trumpet vine or Campsis radicans. In the marvelous book, Passalong Plants by southern garden writers Felder Rushing and Steve Bender, the latter refers to trumpet vine as a plant that “brings … Read more
