SILVER AND GOLD Last week I wrote about visiting the gardens at a designer show house and being struck by the number of chartreuse or golden-leafed plants used to lighten up dark spaces. I have been thinking about it ever since, and noticing such plants everywhere I go. Another great landscape lightener is silver or … Read more
FAWN HILL FARMS Many things burst into bloom at this time of year, including designer show houses, which generally pop up in areas fertilized by significant amounts of money. For at least a couple of months in high show house season, fans of interior and garden design can scout the latest trends, evaluate the work … Read more
ANEMONELLA Anemonella sounds like a disease caused by anemone-shaped bacteria. It is not. Anemonella is neither a disease nor an anemone. It is, in fact, a lovely woodland plant and I am completely smitten by it. Not long ago, I caught a glimpse of a white, double-flowered anemonella lounging seductively on a sheltered porch at … Read more
BUSY, BUSY Spring is poetry on steroids. A million plants explode out of the earth within the space of about a week. Blossoms burst open, spewing pollen into the air and every second an additional thousand formerly dry noses begin to drip. Anyone who calls him or herself a gardener should be out in the … Read more
EGLANTINE Gardening is equal parts science, poetry, spirituality and dirt-under-the-fingernails. I was struck by the poetry part several weeks ago when I read a passage in Elizabeth Lawrence’s book gardening for Love. Ms. Lawrence mentions references in old southern market bulletins to a rose called “sweetbriar.” “Sweetbriar is the poet’s eglantine, Rosa eglanteria,” she says, … Read more
