PLUMBAGO This is the time of year when lovers of all things blue revel in the garden’s bounty. Blue hydrangeas are everywhere–or at least everywhere with acid soil–and both mophead and lacecap varieties are producing abundant blue flowerheads. This is one of those summers that hydrangea lovers celebrate. The spring was mild, with no … Read more
STAR OF BETHLEHEM In the spring many of us look out into our yards and see a clump of pretty but weedy little flowering plants. The flowers are white and a bit lily-like and observant gardeners may notice that the clump of these plants seems to be larger than it was the previous year. … Read more
JASMINE The other night I was watching director Richard Lester’s 1973 version of The Three Musketeers. It is one of my favorite films and every time I watch it I am struck by the way Lester captured the feel of mid-seventeenth century France–complete with lechery, debauchery and dirt, not to mention livestock in the … Read more
YELLOW CLIVIA The small plant nursery on top of my microwave oven has a new resident. The yellow clivia that I have coveted for years finally arrived last week. As befits its horticultural importance and stature as an object of desire, I have potted it up in a four-inch terra cotta pot made by … Read more
PAPERWHITES I have a love/hate relationship with paperwhites, those non-hardy narcissus whose bulbs are on sale everywhere starting about now. When they bloom, these relatives of the common daffodil are lovely and winsome–a harbinger of spring at a dark time of year. Buying them always seems like a good idea in October, which is … Read more
