I last thought seriously about Geranium phaeum, aka “the mourning widow,” about six years ago. I was in the first throes of a serious love affair with all kinds of hardy geraniums and was swept off my feet by the phaeum species, because it thrives so well in shade. I bought one and it died, … Read more
The daisy or Compositae family is so large—950 genera, 20,000 species and even more cultivated varieties and hybrids—that you could fill hundreds of gardens with family members without even thinking about plants from outside the clan. Over the last three decades or so, individual daisy genera, including coneflower, asters, Shasta daisies and blanketflower, have caught … 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
Lately the balloon flower—Platycodon grandiflorus—has been stalking me. As I wander through garden centers in search of mid-summer bargains, the inflated buds pop out from the pallets. A neighbor’s border overflows with a blue-flowered variety. Last week, on a visit to the main garden of the Cloisters museum in Upper Manhattan, I saw a giant … Read more
My husband used to get alarmed by the detailed plant lists that I make at this time of the year. It’s no wonder, really. Lengthy, detailed and involving huge expenditures, the lists are a two-dimensional harbinger of bankruptcy. I compile them while in the throes of catalog fever, an affliction that I catch on contact … Read more
