WINTER GARDENER A couple of nights ago, I got tired of being an armchair gardener. Having overdosed on glossy catalog copy and over-the-top catalog photos, I longed to get out and do more than just walk around my frozen garden. I felt my muscles atrophying. The weather was relatively mild. The butterfly bushes screamed to … Read more
SOLDIER OF FORTUNEI When you buy a house, certain things come with the property. If the house is old, like mine, you get creaky steps, sloping floors and strange nighttime noises that defy explanation. When we bought our house eleven years ago, we also got Euonymus fortunei, sometimes known as “winter creeper.” Winter creeper did … Read more
CROTON The word “croton” or the Latin binomial, Codiaeum variegatum, might not ring a bell, but if you frequent garden centers or indoor plant merchandisers, you have probably seen the tropical specimens that go by those names. The flowers are insignificant, but the foliage is gaudy–large, leathery, semi-upright leaves in shades of bright yellow, green … Read more
SUPERMARKET HELLEBORES Plants can grow in all kinds of unlikely places. Tiny alpine specimens find footholds in rock crevices. Cacti bloom in the desert. Now, it seems, hellebores grow in supermarkets. Innovations arising from globalized plant breeding efforts have moved us forward another step–I think. At this time of year, the supermarkets’ plant and flower … Read more
HOLIDAY CACTUS Some plants are instant gratification items. In December that category usually includes poinsettias and, sad to say, the beautiful, floriferous cyclamen. The problem is that both are greenhouse-grown and forced into bloom for the holidays. Keeping them healthy and bringing about rebloom is a long-term proposition and not many people are willing to … Read more
