Someday I am going to create a new series for PBS. It will be an adaptation of the much-loved BBC series, “Call the Midwife.” My version will, of course, be somewhat altered to suit American tastes and interests. I will rename it, “Call the Landscaper”, and it will feature stories about suburban landscapes, some nine … Read more
In summer, time typically moves slower, as motivation is diminished by hot weather and vacation activities. Then, the first of September happens, and suddenly the pace of life revs up to warp speed, as every activity in the world restarts. Meetings and commitments multiply, hours of daylight diminish, and gardeners are often caught in a … Read more
The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty bears lines from the 1883 poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. Among those lines are: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,…” The same words might be carved in stone over my front porch, but they would apply to plants instead … Read more
When many people see or hear the word “cerveza”, they think of a cold bottle of beer, as in “cerveza fria”. Since it is now high summer, some people think of that a lot—in Spanish or in English. When I think of “cerveza”, I summon a picture of my back garden, where a healthy ‘Cerveza … Read more
My aunt was a serial hobbyist, and one of her hobby phases was macrame. Since she was always an avid gardener, many of her knotted creations were plant hangers. In fact, before she moved on to other hobbies, her kitchen looked like a suburban version of the hanging gardens of Babylon. She would have loved … Read more
