Not everyone gets excited about an evergreen, perennial plant with pale green flowers and a questionable fragrance. Still, times being what they are, anything that is alive, blooming and not related to politics is a cause for celebration. That is why I am so delighted to see the “stinking hellebore” or Helleborus foetidus preparing to … Read more
It is rare that I see red about something green, but I am having an angry moment about yucca. Not all yucca, mind you—there are 40 or 50 species of yucca in the larger agave family—but Yucca filamentosa. I suppose that Yucca filamentosa, sometimes called “Adam’s Needle”, is loved in some places and tolerated in … Read more
I was first smitten with scented-leaf geraniums on a visit to the Cornell Botanic Garden in Ithaca, New York. It was a sunny summer day and I passed a raised bed of vigorous geraniums near the Welcome Center. The sunshine had warmed the essential oils lurking at the bases of tiny leaf hairs, allowing visitors … Read more
I have had a crush on abutilon or “parlor maple” plants for the longest time. It might be because I love their hollyhock-like flowers. Or perhaps it is because I live in a Victorian house and the room that I refer to as the” living room” would once have been called “the parlor”. It stands … Read more
Opening up the new gardening catalogs is a form of post-holiday renewal. Despite the fact that I use lots of online vendors and do ninety-nine percent of my ordering online, I still get a thrill from the bright, splashy print catalogs. On New Year’s Day I delved into one of those catalogs. The vendor is … Read more
