The last few years I have been quite taken by plants that feature black—or actually near-black—foliage. The rest of the gardening world seems to share that fascination, as the number of black-leafed perennials and shrubs has grown by leaps and bounds. Without too much effort you can now buy “Bishop’s Children” dahlias, the offspring of … Read more
The winter solstice has happened, which means that as each day passes, the western hemisphere gains about one minute of daylight. Of course it will take some time before those daily gains make a difference in daily life. In January and February, storms often obscure the increased daylight, making it harder to pluck hope from … Read more
The Lion in Winter is a play by James Goldman that was made into a film in 1968 starring Richard Harris as English King Henry II and, most memorably, Katherine Hepburn as his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The play was set in the twelfth century during the Christmas season, and the titular “lion” was … Read more
Sometimes you choose to make changes in the landscape. Sometimes the landscape does the deciding. In my case, the situation is a little bit of both. The wooden perimeter fence that bounds my backyard is decrepit and needs replacing. It was handsome once, but that was fifteen years ago. Weather and normal aging have done … Read more
There are some tunes that stick in your head, sometimes for weeks. That happened to me recently with the old sea chantey, “What do we do with a drunken sailor?” The song isn’t as common as it was a generation or two ago, possibly owing to its bawdy lyrics, but is still widely known. The … Read more
