Book Review—The Rose

The rose is the Mona Lisa of the plant world.  For millennia, humans have coveted them, grown them, celebrated them in every art form and sought out new forms and varieties.  Some of us, especially those who have to do hand-to-hand combat with blackspot and other rose diseases, have occasionally cursed them.  But the fascination … Read more

Book Review: Lady Mayo’s Garden

On May 1, 1891, Geraldine Mayo, of County Kildare in Ireland, armed herself with a stout pair of loppers and climbed a ladder—long skirts and all.  “I got on the top of the Yew hedge in the garden at the risk of my life..,” she wrote later, adding that the risky yet satisfying hedge pruning … Read more