REVIEW–THE $64 TOMATO William Alexander is in love with his garden. His book, The $64 Tomato (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007), is awash in the kind of passion, frustration, irony and jubilation that you only experience while in the thralls of an ongoing affair. Of course, Alexander has a life outside the garden, … Read more
DOUBLE GERANIUMS In my garden this will be the Year of the Fluffy Flower. Ever since the first mail order catalogs arrived last December I have been mesmerized by the pictures of double-flowered varieties of hellebores, daylilies, primroses and Shasta daisies. My usual love of simplicity has gone south in favor of the pursuit of … Read more
ENGLISH IVY–FOR BETTER OR WORSE I am blessed and cursed with English Ivy, Hedera helix. Everyone knows what it looks like–a vining plant with dark green, glossy, three-lobed leaves. It can creep and climb, and is perfectly capable of reaching a height of over thirty feet. When the plants mature, they can develop trunks … Read more
HALO HYDRANGEAS Every once in awhile a new plant or group of plants comes along that seems to embody all of the prevailing horticultural trends. It happened in 2006, when Hines Horticulture, one of America’s biggest wholesale plant growers, introduced its Halo Hydrangeasâ„¢. This spring these archetypal twenty-first century plants will be widely available … Read more
WINTER CLEANOUT It’s time to do something about my houseplants. The holidays are over, the New Year is well underway and spring, or at least the beginning of the growing season, is still waiting in the wings. My houseplant collection is in chaos, and I need to make some tough decisions and introduce some … Read more
