BEARDTONGUE One of the wonderful things about being a gardener is that you get to fall in love with different plant species and varieties as often as you want. Successful relationships can last a lifetime. Less successful pairings are easily ended with cheap divorces that frequently involve the compost pile. Some gardeners are monogamous, … Read more
BOOK REVIEW: BEAUTIFUL MADNESS Veteran writer James Dodson used to have a single passion–golf. As a golf writer, he also had a dream job, traveling the world to interview golfers and play the great courses. But when the North Carolina-born Dodson and his wife bought a piece of property in Maine over twenty-five … Read more
COMPANION PLANTING The practice of companion planting has been going on for centuries. Now that everything green is chic again, it’s fashionable once more. It’s easy, can produce excellent results and often reduces or eliminates the need for pesticides. Companion planting simply means pairing or grouping different kinds of plants that perform beneficial … Read more
CONEFLOWER CRAZY I am having a crisis. The plant breeders and nurserymen of this world are conspiring to drive me crazy and they have just about succeeded. Unlike all those medical and psychological conditions that you hear about on television–RLS, GERD, SAD–there is no pharmaceutical remedy for my problem. It doesn’t even have initials … Read more
CHESTNUT FLOWER Back in October I plucked three hyacinth bulbs from the batch that I was about to plant in my garden and brought them inside. .It took all of ten minutes for me to fill three narrow-mouthed jars with water, perch the bulbs atop the containers and put them in the back of … Read more
