aquilegia

Closing Down, Opening Up

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For those of us in cold winter climates, mid-fall is the time to say a gradual goodbye to flowers.  Annuals will soldier on until the first hard frost, but they are slowing down in anticipation of the inevitable.  Most perennials have finished up, with the exception of a few Montauk daisies, tall sedums, fall crocuses … Read more

Granny’s Bonnet

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Last week I saw a one-gallon container of old-fashioned double columbines at my neighborhood big box store. This is a sure sign that columbine—aquilegia to horticulturists—has arrived in a big way. The plants, generally short-lived perennials, have been spring harbingers in the Old and New Worlds for centuries. Now they are suddenly as à la … Read more