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
DOUBLE OR NOTHING My trade association, the Garden Writers of America, refers to its members as “Garden Communicators”. As a veteran “garden communicator” I receive a boatload of mail order plant, seed and garden equipment catalogs every year. The flow started before Christmas, and now every day I can expect to find a catalog … Read more
UNSEASONABLE WEATHER When I take stock of the current state of my garden, I realize that this may just be the Year of Perpetual Bloom. English garden writers have been bragging about their year-round flowers for decades, if not centuries, but those of us in the northeastern United States have never had that luxury. … Read more
