Admitted: I don’t pay as much attention to the gardening scene as those who actually make their living from it—designers, growers, retailers, full-time gardening writers. But maybe that’s a good thing, because for me to notice, a phenomenon has to achieve at least a dull roar. So here’s what caught my attention over the last [...]
Posted by Elizabeth Licata on December 31, 2012 at 8:00 am. This post has 9 responses.
Body: Posted by Bert CreggLast week I posted about some horticultural disasters I witnessed in the Czech Republic. This week the chamber of horrors. […]
Biodiverse Lawn by Coalition Member Thomas Christopher Like other members of this group, I believe that the contemporary model of lawn has got to go.. […]
Body: Posted by Linda Chalker-Scott If you've been following us for a while, you might remember a post from August 2009 when I got cranky about a pot. […]
The beloved/hated/always buzzworthy Plant Delights catalog cover has done it again, with its just-released 2013 version. And what a hoot that the Ranters are all there! (Upper left). So now for shut-ins and compulsives in any situation, can you name all these gardeners? I’ll start. Clockwise from the Ranters...
Read more in: Who's Ranting About Us
If you’re sitting around in a post-holiday daze, wondering what to load onto the new ereader/tablet/laptop/smartphone you just got over the holidays, I have an answer! To my delight, my publisher Algonquin has put a ton of ebooks on sale today. Here’s a list of all the garden/nature titles...
Read more in: Books, Taking Your Gardening Dollar
On a visit to the nearby Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, I stopped to read the signage about America’s “Conservation Leaders” and was surprised to see Frederick Law Olmsted right there, with Audubon, Thoreau, Jacques Cousteau and Morris Udall. The sign described his work pioneering Yosemite Valley before it became...
Read more in: Everybody's a Critic
HT to my husband who saw this commercial and brought it to my attention. We’re getting carpeted with snow by the first real winter storm I’ve seen in a while (last winter barely deserved the name), and I’ve been thinking about the garden. On my list of projects are:...
Read more in: Taking Your Gardening Dollar
It has been a while since we had a real storm.
Read more in: Real Gardens
So last year I planted this cocktail garden. It was a huge undertaking that I wrote not a word about, in part because I was too busy doing it. The space was one of those typically difficult side yards found around a lot of old houses: as little...
Read more in: Drink This, Garden Rant Cocktail Hour, Taking Your Gardening Dollar
Thanks once again to my Hollywood brother for this one, who actually managed to cast an actor to do most of the heavy lifting.
Read more in: Books, But is it Art?
In my last post about my new back garden I thanked Rant readers for their design tips, all of which I incorporated. Well, most of which – until now. The super-honest Christopher C wrote to tell me that he CRINGED whenever I posted a photo of my neighbor’s privacy...
Read more in: Designs, Tricks, and Schemes
Too many times over the decades, even knowing that it won’t end well, I have herded party captives into a corner, hoping for a mad gardener conversion. The compliant lambs sip Sauvignon Blanc, and chat about their boxwoods, then turn deaf when I start in on the wonders of...
Read more in: Guest Rants, It's the Plants, Darling
Next up in our ongoing “Get a Job” series: Jeff Gillman, horticulture professor and author. What do you do for a living? I’m an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. How’d you get started in this job, or what...
Read more in: Get a Job, Shut Up and Dig, Uncategorized
Despite the fact that I have no intention of growing any plants from seeds—not in this garden, anyway—I love a good seed catalog. Baker Creek is one of the classics. Over 200 pages long, the bulk of the book is devoted to vegetables, with much smaller sections on flowers...
Read more in: Taking Your Gardening Dollar
I’d never heard of perennials expert David Culp until his long-awaited book finally came out and I started seeing raves everywhere. Then I learned that garden centers up and down the East Coast have long been fans of David through his work for Sunny Border Nurseries, a respected perennials...
Read more in: Books
As near as I can tell, the gardening industry has overlooked a vast area of marketing that has the potential to start a gardening revolution among young folk and thus grow a new generation of gardeners in this country. Following in the footsteps of a current wildly successful television series, The Walking Dead, and...
Read more in: Guest Rants, Taking Your Gardening Dollar
Thanks to all of you who submitted ideas for our annual handmade holiday gift roundup, in which we celebrate the botanical-themed, garden-ish, homemade and handmade items that you, too, could buy for the gardeners on your list. It’s always a good idea to celebrate the work of artisans, craftspersons,...
Read more in: Taking Your Gardening Dollar, Uncategorized
If all goes as planned, this room (above) will soon be filled with these (below, sorry for the fuzzy pic). Erlicheer is my tazetta of choice—each stem produces a small bouquet of mildly scented white flowers. As I’ve posted before, the commonly sold Ziva has become synonymous with paperwhites...
Read more in: It's the Plants, Darling
I’m seeing lots of leaf bags in my neighborhood, like this collection from just one neighbor’s yard. Though I was happy to see they’re made of paper (which is required by my town), a closer look revealed that these bags come with a message about lawn care – a...
Read more in: Gardening on the Planet
A New York Times Magazine article titled “Bloom Town: The Wild Life of American Cities” got my attention and that of several Rant readers, who wrote to me about it. And no wonder – it appears to be about a subject we’ve written about here over the years, and...
Read more in: Everybody's a Critic
How did I miss this? I got in on the terrarium revival, but somehow, kokedama has been raging throughout the U.S. and U.K. unnoticed by me. It’s also known as string gardening or moss ball gardening, and originated in Japan, receiving some innovative tweaking in the Netherlands. Of course,...
Read more in: It's the Plants, Darling, Shut Up and Dig
I stopped by the USDA research farm a couple of miles from my house to get a tour of their compost research, led by my former neighbor Walter Mulbry. But any notion that the target audience here is gardeners or even homeowners is way off – this is about...
Read more in: Science Says
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { You're welcome! Dr McDougall has a very informative website and a forum with free access if you need more information. His focus is on low-fat... } – May 19, 11:18 AM
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { If veganism becomes more mainstream, it will be by necessity and not because it's the healthiest diet for most humans. Forks over Knives was a... } – May 19, 12:43 AM Commented on When Food is Too Convenient for Our Own Good { Wow, never thought of it that way before. All of the quick food I used to eat would take drastically longer to make myself than... } – May 19, 12:40 AM
Commented on Roses redux { I dug out a 'Show Garden' climber and sent it to my sister in Oregon because I never got to see the flowers; the Japanese... } – May 18, 10:15 PM
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { You have given me abosolutely no idea what in this essay you find objectionable. } – May 18, 2:36 PMWe are:
perfect
magazine
gardens.
Gardening
our
asses
off.
Having a
hell of a lot
of fun.
