Some of you may remember the Kickstarter campaign I posted for Buffalo’s Farmer Pirate cooperative. It was successful; the group bought their dump truck and now they’re using it to pick up organic matter from restaurants, grocery stores, and other commercial sites. They’ve also added a residential compost program. The other day I received a [...]
Read more in: Unusually Clever People
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. […]
It’s only thanks to Tony Avent’s latest catalog cover that I knew that of the existence of Panayoti Kelaidis – he appears there just to the right of the Ranters. I didn’t know him as a famous plant collector/explorer who’s put the Denver Botanic Gardens on the map, but...
Read more in: Ministry of Controversy, Unusually Clever People
For those who, like me, read trend reports with fascinated horror (Really? Animal prints? Still?), here’s one that’s a little more fun—Today’s Garden Center’s Top 10 Most Hated Garden Trends. There are several I dislike with equal fervor, a few others are more garden industry inside baseball stuff, and...
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I was reluctant to make the schlep into D.C. to attend DC’s Home and Garden Show, which (like HGTV) deserves a silent G for its dearth of garden vendors. But the show DID have the good sense to book a talk by someone I’d wanted to meet for a...
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It’s cold, it’s dreary, and it seems like it will last forever. At least, that’s the reality if you live in the mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Northeastern zones, as many of us do. It doesn’t bother me much—I’ve lived and gardened through many a snowy season. No biggie and ho-hum....
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Michael Van Valkenburgh is one of a few hot-shot landscape architects who’s known for large, high-visibility projects, like his redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House post-9/11. He landed on my radar thanks to that project, which is local to me. So I was happy to...
Read more in: Designs, Tricks, and Schemes, Unusually Clever People
Every January I spend a day at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in downtown Baltimore, lured by the people I’ll run into as much as by the actual products and companies on display. I’ll let others judge whether MANTS lives up to the distinction it claims for itself...
Read more in: Taking Your Gardening Dollar, Unusually Clever People
It’s time, people! The 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling is happening in San Francisco on June 28-30, and registration is open now. They would really, really, really like you to register by February 1 so they can get going on a head count and make some plans (but you can...
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Margaret Roach’s blog tour for her new book “Backyard Parables” has been going strong for two weeks, and I’m kinda late to the party. But like any opinionated gardenblogger, I have things to say. At first I was confused by the title but soon learned that this book is...
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My favorite blogging landscape architect, Thomas Rainer, posted a provocative report on Garden Design Trends, so let’s discuss, shall we? I wrote to Thomas for clarification and he kindly obliged. New Romanticism First, I love these predictions and sure hope they come to pass: People will turn to their...
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I’m not much of a pack rat, but I have saved old letters from the past thirty-five years. Gardeners, who it seems seldom had a boring day, dominate the files. Among them are letters from Christopher Lloyd and Elizabeth Lawrence, but I especially enjoyed rereading my letters from David...
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“Why do you love what you do?” This was a question posed last month at the annual conference of the Eastern Region of the International Plant Propagators Societyin the Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania. The joyful reply came from Joe LaMent (a fellow whose name in no way fits his personality)...
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Ranter James Rousch recently lamented that Garden Literature is going Up in Smoke, based on his count of 87 pot-growing books currently on offer at the local Barnes and Noble. I recently read one of them myself (to review, I swear!) – the excellent Supercharged from Timber Press, which...
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Timber Press managed to do the impossible and get thirty gardeners to each stop what they were doing all at once and sit down and write something about why they garden. The result is this little essay collection, THE ROOTS OF MY OBSESSION: Thirty Great Gardeners Reveal Why...
Read more in: Shut Up and Dig, Unusually Clever People
Please welcome Bobby Ward, author of Chlorophyll in His Veins: J. C. Raulston, Horticultural Ambassador. Recently Amy Stewart commented on Clyde Phillip Wachsberger’s book Into the Garden With Charles, a gardening memoir of Wachsberger and his partner, Charles Dean. The late J. C. Raulston would have greatly appreciated Wachsberger’s...
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That’s NPR’s headline, not mine. My husband switched the radio on yesterday morning just in time for me to hear this story about Amy Goldman, who as I’m sure you know is an author, artist, and heirloom seed advocate. We’ve written about her incredible bronze casts of heirloom...
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Heronswood, the revered botanical garden created in Kingston, Washington by plant collector Dan Hinkley and his partner, architect Robert Jones, as an adjunct to the nursery they founded in 1987, was put up for a sealed bid auction last month by its owner of the last 12 years, W....
Read more in: Ministry of Controversy, Taking Your Gardening Dollar, Unusually Clever People
We’ve always said here that gardening is political, a way of opting out of a culture that pushes us to live lives powered entirely by fossil fuels and processed substances that bear only the slightest relationship to actual food. Food is political, as Michael Pollan has been telling us...
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That is the question, but sometimes it depends on what type of maintenance you’re talking about. Last week, I heard many tributes to writer Nora Ephron (who died last Thursday at 71), including reprises of radio interviews where she read from her most recent books. This is from I...
Read more in: Shut Up and Dig, Unusually Clever People
San Francisco’s Conservatory of Flowers has just opened a new exhibit called Plantosaurus Rex that highlights prehistoric plants and–uh–alarmingly lifelike replicas of the creatures that ate them. I asked the exhibit director, Lau Hodges–who, by the way, is one of the funniest and most interesting women you’ll ever meet–to...
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Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { When I look at the healthiest people on the planet vs. their local cuisine, it appears that the ones that live the longest to the... } – May 20, 4:18 PM
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { I'm a fan of the NYTimes food critic Mark Bittman, and he's just put out a part-vegan diet/cookbook (advocating eating vegan before 6pm for health... } – May 20, 11:32 AM
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { Kevin, Well said. Also read The Vegetarian Myths by Lierre Keith, whose health was permanently damaged by her determination to stick to a vegan diet... } – May 20, 1:40 AM
Commented on Roses redux { Susan - Years ago, I read somewhere (maybe Organic Gardening magazine; can't remember) to plant peonies near your roses to curb Japanese beetles. I tried... } – May 19, 11:11 PM
Commented on OG Mag on Wildlife-Friendly Gardens: What's Wrong with this Picture? { It is unfortunate that a very good article is being overshadowed by the "cat" issue. Sometimes we have to save our criticism for another time... } – May 19, 10:00 PMWe are:
perfect
magazine
gardens.
Gardening
our
asses
off.
Having a
hell of a lot
of fun.
