Rise of the Coneheads

Last week I participated in an annual ritual of spring that involved a lengthy pilgrimage, followed by acts of homage at impressive shrines in the company of hundreds of other pilgrims. At the end of my journey, I returned home footsore, but spiritually renewed. The scene of this religious devotion was, of course, the Philadelphia … Read more

Butterfly Weed

Lots of plants pop up in the fertile ground under my privet hedge—poison ivy, Virginia creeper, wild grape, Japanese honeysuckle, Oriental bittersweet and common mulberry, to name a few.  I spend a good chunk of time every month battling them.  It is a quixotic battle, based on the romantic notion that I can actually defeat … Read more

Hearts on Fire

Bleeding heart—Lamprocapnos spectabilis–has shed seeds, if not blood, all over my garden.  I probably planted the first one deliberately ten years ago, though I have no memory of doing so.  Now, they are everywhere.  Normally those words would constitute the start of a rant about garden thuggery.  In this case, however, I have no complaint.  … Read more

Monch Madness

There was a time when I had no asters in my front garden. Then I planted one small pot of tall, pink-flowered ‘Alma Potschke’ asters. ‘Alma’ prospered—so much so that now, if I didn’t pull out the seedlings every year, I would have hundreds of ‘Alma Potschke’offspring. Not only do I pull out the seedlings, … Read more

Granny’s Bonnet

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