The plants that botanists sometimes call “spring ephemerals,” including trilliums, common violets and hepaticas, always seem magical to me. They push up through bare earth when warmer weather is still a vague suggestion, and proceed to flower, set seed and disappear, all in manner of a few months. Intellectually I know that ephemerals are always … 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
Tulips are one of the great glories of the spring garden. It doesn’t matter what types you choose—singles, doubles, fringed, lily-flowering, or species—all are rainbow-hued avatars of the growing season to come. If I could have a garden full of them, I would be in heaven. There is only one problem—competition from backyard varmints who … Read more
The rarest flower color is true blue—not muddy blue-purple or questionable blue-pink, but bright, unabashed blue. That color is even more spectacular when it is set against a background of dull earth and comes after a winter onslaught of gray days. I rejoiced in that color yesterday when the chionodoxa or “glory of the snow” … Read more
Some years I crave simple things—flowers with only five petals, clothes without frivolous embellishments, and non-fancy food. Not this year. Life is complicated and it makes me crave opulent blooms. Fortunately, the catalogs and local plant vendors are offering luxurious double primroses in an array of colors. I have already bought several and may acquire … Read more
