I am a modern gardener—at least sometimes—but I still have a soft spot for old-fashioned printed garden catalogs. Fat ones used to flood my mailbox beginning just after the winter holidays. Now, with the rise in e-commerce, thin ones begin to flood the mailbox in December. I welcome them all the same. I am not … Read more
In the aftermath of World War II, roses, loved for millennia by gardeners, artists, and everyday people, became divas. The hybrid tea rose, with its long stems, plump buds, and opulent petal configurations, reigned supreme in American gardens. People, including my rose-loving father, planted his first garden with peachy-pink ‘Peace’, blood red ‘Mr. Lincoln’, and … Read more
About 12,000 years ago, human beings started making the long transition from gathering wild plants for food to growing those plants. As more humans turned to practicing agriculture, they probably began to do what is now known as “selective breeding”—choosing plants that were bigger, or bore tastier fruits—and sowing the seeds of those plants in … Read more
Spring comes every year and, in general, the average garden looks its best in the months of April, May and June. Green returns to the landscape, plants leap out of the earth, and the weeds haven’t had a chance to grow to the epic sizes they sometimes reach in the summer. Gardeners are also fresh … Read more
I have decided not to be gloomy about mid to late fall. Yes, the leaves are coming down from the sugar maple in my front strip faster than I can get rid of them. Yes, if I think about it, I can envision all of the icy blasts, damaging storms and winter grayness that is … Read more
