I love my cottage-style garden, with its masses of flowers and greenery. At my place, the garden has plenty of classical elements including brick paths, hedges and stone walls, but the plants rule the roost. The flip side of all that cottage garden charm is that masses of flowers and greenery can easily become messes … Read more
The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) is 31 year-old trade and industry group that seeks to promote perennial plants through education, lobbying and publicity efforts. The plants probably don’t care about this, but the horticultural industry that depends on them does. Every year at about this time, the PPA rouses winter-bound gardeners all over the country … Read more
Unless you are a teenager, it is generally a good thing to be “grounded.” For non-teens, the word implies common sense and a focus on reality, as opposed to flights of fantasy. People who are grounded are reliable—the kind you want as friends or neighbors. The kind you rarely get as relatives. More and more … Read more
Never say “never” in the garden. It always comes back to haunt you. For years I swore that I would never buy carpet bugle or bugleweed—Aujga reptans—under any circumstances. After all, my property came with an abundant supply that has increased exuberantly over time. Every spring the blue-purple spires light up the entire back garden, … Read more
The name “Georg Arends” will ring a bell with astute gardeners, even if it only sounds faintly familiar. Arends was a German nurseryman and plant breeder with an establishment in Ronsdorf-Wuppertal, an imposingly named town near Cologne. He lived and worked from 1863 to 1952, a long career, that left an impressive legacy. If you … Read more
