I love to walk—in my neighborhood, my town and wherever I vacation. I never wear headphones or talk on my phone, because I like to save my senses for the small worlds that I encounter on my way. Good suburbanite that I am, I always take stock of the neighbors’ gardens. But I am also … Read more
About ten years ago, a friend gave me a single large iris rhizome division. It was from a tall, bearded type that grew in carefree splendor in her western New York garden. I planted it in the free-draining soil at our family’s summer cottage in Central New York and it grew, or maybe “grew” is … Read more
Back in 1837, when England’s Queen Victoria was a sweet young thing, new to the throne, and not even officially crowned, one of her diplomats sent a new plant back to England. The diplomat was Henry Mandeville, who was serving Her Majesty as Minister in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mandeville, like so many of his … Read more
Life is full of ironies. A woman who used to live in my neighborhood loved gardens and gardening, but spent long days working as a nurse. Between career, family and other obligations, she never had time to create the garden of her dreams. Finally she found the money to hire a garden designer/installer who brought … Read more
Life is full of rules. Some, like “no wearing white after Labor Day”, arrived via well-meaning mothers and grandmothers. Others are rules that we impose on ourselves. One of the garden rules that has lurked in the back of my mind forever is “geraniums belong in pots”. The geraniums I deal with most often are … Read more
