Every year at this time I take great joy in paging through the paper bulb catalogs and perusing the websites so that I can overspend on spring bulbs in the most discerning and intelligent way. One of my longtime favorite catalogs is Old House Gardens, which describes itself as “Heirloom Bulbs—So Much More Than … Read more
The other day I was out for a walk in my neighborhood when I saw a pair of goldfinches flitting through a bed of blue cornflowers. Backlit by the summer sun, the male goldfinch was clad in his bright yellow courting dress and the cornflowers were an especially vivid shade of cerulean blue. The picture … Read more
The first clumps of daffodils are blooming at long last and I have to resist the urge to go out and pick all of them for the house. Little nosegays of snowdrops and early crocus have been a welcome relief from grocery store flowers, but daffodils in a vase—especially a blue vase– radiate spring sunshine. … Read more
Last week I saw a one-gallon container of old-fashioned double columbines at my neighborhood big box store. This is a sure sign that columbine—aquilegia to horticulturists—has arrived in a big way. The plants, generally short-lived perennials, have been spring harbingers in the Old and New Worlds for centuries. Now they are suddenly as à la … Read more
It is amazing how far afield you can go on a rainy day when you are trying to order garden phlox. In my case I went all the way to Long Island in the 1920’s, with detours that went even further back. All of this started as a quest for information about a particular tall … Read more
