LATEST RANTS
U.S. Botanic Garden now Part of the U.S. Capitol Fortress
This is as close as I could get to the U.S. Botanic Garden today, with all of it now fenced in and heavily guarded. You can barely see the white USBG sign in the middle of this shot. While most [...]
GardenRants by Michele Owens – My 10 Favorites
If you were a GardenRant reader in the early days, you'll remember Michele Owens, one of our founders, and her wise, witty and sometimes politically incorrect articles here. Here are MY favorites from those early years together, when I looked [...]
A disconcerting look at past gardening resolutions
Here's a post I wrote in April, 2006, with updates in italics. It's safe to say that I put almost none of the resolutions I made here into practice. Helen Dillon has moved on, into a new home, where's she's [...]
A Rose…By Any Other Name?
The beauty of Latin, the gorgeousness of it, is that everyone despises it. Equally!

“One of my favorites: A blend of gossip, news, crusade and, yes, raw rant, it blows the cobwebs out of gardening’s mustier corners.”
– Washington Post gardening editor Adrian Higgins
No love for street trees
Especially not from utility companies. The image above was taken on a street on the east side of Buffalo, but this scene, or something similar, is common throughout the US, from Pasadena to Lexington to Aroostook. I’m [...]
Plant Explorer Ernest Wilson’s Sink is Going in My Garden
“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.” ― Robert Jordan I [...]
Kelly Norris on New Naturalism and Informed Plant Choices
This guest post by Kelly Norris is excerpted from New Naturalism: Designing and Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden by Kelly D. Norris (Cool Springs Press, 2021). History is full of great visions about landscapes that [...]
GardenRant Voices
GardenRant is the work of these highly opinionated gardeners:
GUEST RANTS
GardenRant welcomes “guest ranters” who want to take over our little piece of cyberspace for the day. Whether you’re in the plant industry or just an ordinary gardener with an axe to grind, you’re invited. Find out more here.