Pity the poor ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’. She has been handled roughly and forced to make do without her accustomed level of support. But she is resilient, and like all true aristocrats, she has made a remarkable comeback from adversity. ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’, is a stupendous double white clematis that has grown in my front garden … Read more
It has been at least four years since I last grew the lovely plumbago, with its cascading habit and sky-blue flowers. This was not because I had grown tired of plumbago, but because my last plumbago grew tired of me and died. I did not take it personally, since the death happened in January, as … Read more
In my part of the world, snow is on the menu for today, and the first few flakes of an expected four to six inch accumulation are swirling down from above. In the house, a couple of last year’s amaryllis plants are flowering, in the company of a reblooming kalanchoe. The blue butterfly bush, Clerodendron … Read more
My behemoth quince bush has been taken over by a plant that has had more names than a check forger, is bound and determined to run completely out of control, and makes regular, unscheduled appearances in respectable gardens everywhere. Sweet autumn clematis is the plant, and if America’s Most Wanted had a plant list, this … Read more
The experts agree; Napoleon never uttered that famous palindrome, “Able was I ere I saw Elba”. It isn’t a palindrome in French, and even in exile, Napoleon probably never admitted that a comeback wasn’t waiting somewhere in the wings. Since any claim to Napoleonic authorship has now been discredited, I will feel free to alter … Read more
