In a memorable scene from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, the character of Emile de Becque sings: “Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger, You may see a stranger across a crowded room,…” I had a similar feeling one semi-enchanted afternoon, when I saw a bush clematis across a crowded garden center. … Read more
Scent is important to me. I have been known to stop in my tracts to insert my nose into a particularly alluring rose or inhale the intoxicating fragrance of a blooming linden tree. I didn’t expect much when I got up close and personal with an echinops or globe thistle, but to my surprise, the … Read more
You won’t find a lot of men wearing boutonnieres or, in the more prosaic English translation, “buttonholes”, these days. Individual blooms stuck through the buttonhole of a jacket or pinned to a lapel are still on view at weddings, proms and other festive events, but the days when fashionable, suit-wearing men wore a fresh flower … Read more
Early spring is usually the time for the little flowers, like snowdrops, winter aconite and crocus. Though their stature is small, they emerge from the winter-drab earth in flashes of color. After a few weeks they give way to the flashier daffodils and tulips, which in turn bow out in favor of peonies and roses, … Read more
True blue flowers don’t happen every day, but when they do, their beauty is heart-stopping. A few years ago, my daughter, the queen of container growing, had a heart-stopping moment with Lithodora diffusa, a small, perennial, ground-covering plant with true blue flowers. She thought it was perfect for a mixed container arrangement. I thought it … Read more
