When is a barberry not a barberry? When it is a bishop’s hat. And sometimes that bishop’s hat is also known as barrenwort, fairy wings or even horny goat weed. In all cases, the plant in question is epimedium, a shade-loving, spring bloomer that covers ground in a very appealing way. When most of us … Read more
Once every couple of weeks I get an email from Terra Nova, the innovative plant breeder and wholesaler that has enriched the gardening world with scores of new, colorful garden perennials. The most recent email announced the arrival of ‘Alexandria’, a new variety of Brunnera macrophylla or false forget-me-not. Common forget-me-nots or Myosotis scorpioides are … Read more
Every year the Pantone Color Institute introduces its “Color of the Year”, reflecting what the Institute thinks is the zeitgeist or prevailing mood for a particular 365-day period. The 2020 color is “Classic Blue”, a shade lighter than navy blue, but deeper than sky blue. On the large Pantone color chart, it is number 19-4052. … Read more
House plants are all the rage, in North America and abroad. Shelter magazine photographers are working overtime trying to get shots of everything from begonias to banana trees. Pinterest is full of luxurious tropical plants. Horticulture publications that used to treat house plants as afterthoughts now devote entire sections, or sometimes entire issues to indoor … Read more
The latter half of the twentieth century produced a bumper crop of great gardeners, garden designers and garden personalities. I have been inspired by many of them, especially British born Beth Chatto, 1923-2018, who shone brightly in that horticultural pantheon. Now, an authorized biography, Beth Chatto: A Life With Plants, presents a fond, but unvarnished … Read more
