Inspiration comes at the strangest times and in the most unlikely places. The other day I was walking in a neighboring town, doing what I always do—looking at other people’s landscaping, envying some of the results, and imaging what I would do with less inspiring properties. This practice is highly satisfactory because it exercises my … Read more
I fall in love with some plants easily. Others take longer—sometimes a lot longer. That was the case with Stachys byzantina, known to its friends as lambs’ ears. It is not as if lambs’ ears wasn’t on my radar. When my daughter was small, she saw a bed of the plants, touched their soft, fuzzy … Read more
It is almost axiomatic that children tend to rebel in some way against their parents. The offspring of nonconformists buy houses in the suburbs and fret about their perfect lawns. Children of traditionalists pursue alternative lifestyles in ways guaranteed to alarm their parents. I rebelled with geraniums—specifically hardy geraniums. I came from a family that … Read more
Last week a major change happened in my garden. For many years four giant holly shrubs dominated the south side of my house. Two were probably planted deliberately by a previous owner, and two were likely self-sown, including one that was too close to the house. I am quite sure that the hollies started as … Read more
I am a modern gardener—at least sometimes—but I still have a soft spot for old-fashioned printed garden catalogs. Fat ones used to flood my mailbox beginning just after the winter holidays. Now, with the rise in e-commerce, thin ones begin to flood the mailbox in December. I welcome them all the same. I am not … Read more
