REDBUD EXPLOSION With all the noise about European debt, American presidential elections and the international plague of reality television, you may not have noticed that we are in the midst of a redbud explosion. Breeders have taken the common Eastern Redbud–Cercis canadensis–and dressed it in flashy foliage, changed its growth habit and adorned it … Read more
JANE LOUDON I first “met” Jane C. Webb Loudon when I developed an interest in botanical art some time ago. A local dealer offered some original prints of Mrs. Loudon’s botanical illustrations and I fell in love with them. Those prints started me off on a small-time collecting hobby and now, even when the … Read more
GUILT FREE FOXGLOVES I really should write a column about growing tomatoes. The catalogs are coming in fast and furious now, and they are full of tomatoes and other edibles. Even nurseries like White Flower Farm, longtime bastion of ornamental plants, are selling at least a few tomatoes, strawberry plants and berry bushes. … Read more
SPRING ORDERS Spring is leaping up from the pages of the catalogs that arrive by snail mail every day. The e-mail traffic from the plant vendors is also surging, with new offers and enticements appearing on an hourly basis. My head spins at the color and the variety. My heart sinks–but only a little–at … Read more
IZNIK We are currently enjoying a mild winter, but even so, I miss my garden and the flowers that provide me with inspiration during the growing season. My front beds are full of clusters of emerging daffodil tips, but instead of giving me joy, their presence this early worries me. The holly trees are … Read more
