True blue flowers don’t happen every day, but when they do, their beauty is heart-stopping. A few years ago, my daughter, the queen of container growing, had a heart-stopping moment with Lithodora diffusa, a small, perennial, ground-covering plant with true blue flowers. She thought it was perfect for a mixed container arrangement. I thought it … Read more
If a garden does not look good in May and June, it will never look good. I have heard that phrase, read it, and even said it many times over the years. It stays current because it’s true-at least most of the time. If your landscape is like mine, full of a lot of spring-flowering … Read more
It is axiomatic among gardeners that the garden is always at its best either the week before or the week after visitors stop by. “You should have seen it last week,” you say regretfully while looking at the desiccated remains of your formerly sumptuous double daffodils. “Wait until next week,” you mutter, as you point … Read more
Nineteenth century poets, like John Keats, were fond of odes. Keats is particularly famous for a relatively short one extolling the beauty of a Grecian urn, and a longer one about a nightingale. If only he had lived long enough to be introduced to the sturdy garden fork that hangs in silence on my garage … Read more
Not long ago a friend called me with dramatic news about epimedium. For those who might be wondering, this is a plant, not a medical condition. Epimedium might occasionally induce euphoria, which is a psychological condition, but that is another story. Epimedium is, in fact, a shade-loving, spring bloomer that covers ground in a very … Read more
