Rosa Alba
For years I have called myself a rose lover, but I have completely neglected a significant category of old roses. Finally, this summer, a plantsman of my acquaintance called me on it. “How,” he said,...
View ArticleBodacious Bougainvillea
I have a friend of the clerical persuasion who is a wonderful gardener. When I say “wonderful”, I don’t mean that his suburban lot looks like Longwood Gardens. I mean that when he sets his mind to...
View ArticleBook Review: Chasing the Rose by Andrea di Robilant
Italian writer Andrea di Robilant has long been a man in search of the past. He mined a rich vein of family history in Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon, the 2008 biography of his ancestor...
View ArticlePlumbing Plumbago
Doris Duke—1912-1993—was a millionaire heiress with multiple homes, a colorful personal life and a peripatetic nature. Whenever she touched down in New Jersey, she came to rest at Duke Farms, a...
View ArticleFall Discoveries
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...
View ArticleBook Review: The Meaning of Trees
When most of us think of trees at this time of year, we focus on leaves. The same leaves that delighted us when they appeared in the spring, shaded us through the torrid summer days and enchanted us as...
View ArticleBringing in the Geraniums
At this time of the year I am reminded of the old Protestant hymn, “Bringing in the Sheaves.” It celebrates the celestial and actual harvest with a refrain that goes: “Bringing in the sheaves, bringing...
View ArticleCamassia Comes Into Its Own
When Europeans first came to America, they found a wealth of exciting plants. Some of the more botanically-inclined settlers harvested a vast array of seeds, bulbs and cuttings and shipped them back to...
View ArticleEdison Blooms Again
Not long ago I gave a garden talk at the monthly meeting of a wonderful local garden club. They were, like so many passionate gardeners, warm and friendly and devoted to many aspects of...
View ArticleCholmondeley
I have a soft spot for those who restore old gardens--clearing overgrowth, rediscovering features and researching original plantings and layouts. It is tough work, requiring a combination of intellect,...
View ArticlePotter’s Prelude
I have always envied those gardeners who brag about having something in bloom three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Living in a cold winter climate, this is not possible for me, unless I count the...
View ArticleSourwood
Friends often ask me to identify mystery plants and those identification attempts sometimes lead me on voyages of discovery. Not long ago I took one of those trips. My friend asked me to look at a...
View ArticleAutumn Cherries
“It’s a sad situation,” said my friend, the plant lover. “This climate change has gotten so bad that the plants are confused.” Since I am often confused myself, this resonated with me. “It’s the poor...
View ArticleButterfly Amaryllis
You can tell a lot about a culture by the word its citizens use to describe the insect we call “butterfly”. German butterflies have such a weighty-sounding name--“schmetterling”—that it’s a wonder they...
View ArticleBook Review: The Butterflies of North America by Titian Peale
Some things in this life never change. Take writing and book publishing for example. Author and artist Titian Peale—1799-1885—worked on his book, The Butterflies of North America, beginning with a...
View ArticleCamellias in the Cold
A few years I bought a fall-blooming camellia that was supposedly cold hardy. I planted, tended and fussed over it because I wanted the beautiful rose-like flowers to light up my garden in the late...
View ArticleHardy Orchids
Right now, you can hardly navigate through the garden centers, big box stores and grocery floral sections due to the avalanche of orchids. Most are moth orchids or Phalaenopsis, which are relatively...
View ArticleAnd the Winner Is…
It’s “red carpet season”—at least in the media. Every week, celebrities gather to watch and/or receive the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, People’s Choice or any of the thousand other awards that...
View ArticleGeranium Update
I tell everyone who will listen that hardy geraniums, sometimes known as cranesbills, are the horticultural equivalent of the little black dress or well-tailored black trousers. They go with...
View ArticleImpatience
Every year there is a moment in February when the urge to garden hits me with a vengeance. That moment has arrived. Now I have to decide what do to about it. This winter has given our part of the world...
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