I don’t know why my friends say that I hate change. In a single decade I went from disdaining dahlias to wanting a border full of colorful specimens. I grew dahlias this year with that aim in mind. I was egged on by gorgeous garden magazines spreads featuring gardeners who are able to grow armloads … Read more
By any measure, Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ is a citizen of the world. Descended from several Chinese species and long cultivated in Japan, the plant’s parent was hybridized in England. That English hybrid found its way to France and, once established in the French garden of a man named Jobert, produced a white-flowered sport, or spontaneous … Read more
There are days when I want to live in the moment, celebrate the quotidian experience and relish immediate delights—like the many stands of snowdrops currently on display in various parts of my garden. Other days, I am drawn to the past; especially when I think about people and places that exist only in memory. Being … Read more
When I look out at the sea of asters in my front yard, it is hard to believe that there was a time when I had none. In search of some fall color, I planted one small pot of tall, pink-flowered ‘Alma Potschke’ asters. ‘Alma’ prospered—so much so that now, if I didn’t pull out … Read more
My garden is a riot of activity at the moment, with honeybees, bumblebees, skippers and pollinators of all kinds swarming over the exuberant asters and rampant perilla mint. All that frantic action almost obscures what is missing—the big butterflies, like monarchs and swallowtails, which floated through the garden every day in the summer. They are … Read more
