I have a friend who lost a cherished front-yard tree. After the tree surgeons removed the remains, he began the hunt for a new one. The choices were endless. His lot is large and could accommodate a sizeable specimen. The old tree was deciduous, rather than evergreen; as a fan of autumn color, he wanted … Read more
I have been swept off my feet by a flashy cat, appropriately named ‘Blue Dreams.’ The cat in question is botanical rather than feline, but it has many feline qualities. Like pedigreed, four-footed cats, ‘Blue Dreams’ has a fancy proper name—Nepeta subsessilis ‘Blue Dreams.’ Its stems arch gracefully, reminiscent of a cat’s back and, like … Read more
TOO MUCH, TOO FAST This is the time of year when the garden is a rampaging torrent of growth. Plants—cultivated and wild—are increasing with reckless abandon, vying with each other in Darwinian attempts to attract as many pollinators as possible. Every day I pull out handfuls of garlic mustard, chickweed, immature pokeweed and other noxious … Read more
In the last two weeks I have gotten used to seeing tall garden phlox in the summer gardens in my neighborhood. This morning I walked farther afield and saw masses of another tall, old-fashioned favorite—cleome or spider flower. The cleome were part of a cottage garden planting scheme and when I saw it from a … Read more
Back in August 1916, a Boston-based beverage producer, the Dwinell-Wright Company, published an illustrated brochure, “Common Wayside Flowers” to promote its White House brands of coffee and tea. Ninety-six years later, my daughter discovered it in a box of postcards at a country antique shop. With the exception of product ads on the inside of … Read more
