The tall asters that dominate my front garden used to be known to dirt gardeners and botanists alike as “asters.” Botanists and plant taxonomists now call them Symphyotrichum, a name that makes simple plants sound complicated and inaccessible. Everyone else still calls them asters. I hope the plant taxonomists will take the hint and rescind … Read more
A few days ago I read an article in The Telegraph, an English newspaper, on the fabled long borders at Great Dixter, an estate garden that was the longtime domain of the late plantsman and author Christopher Lloyd. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9552586/Great-Dixter-gardens-going-out-in-a-blaze-of-glory.html) Great Dixter is open to the public full time, so the beds and borders have to … Read more
Butterflies delineate the transition from early to late fall. Choice food plants–asters and butterfly bushes—are in bloom in my garden now, in mid September, and Monarchs and skippers dance among the flowerheads. Summer’s swallowtails are mostly gone, but the ubiquitous Cabbage Whites persist. A few stragglers remain from the horde of Painted Ladies that descended … Read more
There is something very valuable in getting down on your knees and weeding or planting bulbs. Today when I was putting in some fall-blooming crocus, I noticed what I thought was a patch of clover right by a large clump of Helleborus x orientalis (Lenten Rose). On closer inspection, the “clover” turned out to be … Read more
My back porch, which overlooks the garden, is awash in color right now. My daughter’s collection of pelargoniums, portulaca, purslane and assorted other summer bloomers are in their glory. Looking at them is a treat, even though I know that it will be something less than a treat to get all those geraniums in the … Read more
