If you aim to strike fear into a rose breeder’s heart, all you need are three little words—“rose rosette disease.” Rose rosette disease is an insidious rose killer. Spread by microscopic eriophyid mites, the virus affects only roses. There is no cure and it is almost invariably fatal. To make matters worse, no rose species … Read more
August makes me think of green things, like the giant luna moth, which I have sighted on August evenings, and peridot, the green-shaded August birthstone. But I think the best green thing in the August garden is the “August lily”, or Hosta plantaginea. Why is this hosta, sometimes also know as Corfu lily, white plantain … Read more
Growing up in the wilds of western New York State, crape myrtles were as foreign to me as winters without snow. I had a vague notion that they were nearly as important in the South, as camellias, but even northeastern greenhouses that were chock full of winter-flowering camellias were devoid of crape myrtle. I was … Read more
It has been a wet summer in my region and plants are lush and green. Lurking everywhere among that lushness is poison ivy, which is having a banner year. And, if that news is not enough to make you itchy, consider mosquitos, which also thrive in rainy, humid summer weather. The pesky insects, with their … Read more
I do not make a habit of wrestling with trees, but occasionally it becomes necessary. Last week I finished a several-round bout with the coral bark willow, Salix alba subspecies vitellina ‘Britzensis’, which grows smack in the middle of my front border. I want to emphasize that ‘Britzensis’ is a wonderful plant. A male member … Read more
