I just spent an afternoon walking the High Line, New York City’s vertical park built on the remnants of an elevated freight line on the West Side. I have heard people sing its praises since the first section opened in 2009 (a subsequent section opened last year, with another still to come) and those praises … Read more
Having just finished seasonal pruning of a rambunctious and assertively thorny rambling rose, I am reminded of the movie title, “There Will Be Blood.” The rose in question, which grows wildly, suckers aggressively and would take over the world if given the chance, also produces hundreds of winsome single, rose-pink blooms over the course of … Read more
UP ON THE ROOF The media has given a lot of publicity over the past few years to “green” structures, including roofs and walls. Green roofs, when properly supported, planted and tended, can keep buildings cooler than conventional roofing materials. Green walls are a way to beautify interior or exterior space by growing plants … Read more
I have spent part of a fall weekend hot on the trail of a woman named “Dodo Hanbury Forbes.” The quest began when I unpacked Ms. Forbes’ namesake plant, a tall, pink-flowered Phlox paniculata. The phlox was hale and hearty and is residing in a shady area on my back porch for a couple of … Read more
Yesterday I should have edged the beds that surround the front garden and plied the hedge trimmer on the perpetually sprouting privet that bounds the property. Instead I remade a corner of the garden that has never quite succeeded aesthetically and always bothered me. The corner in question is mostly shaded by a nearby maple … Read more
