Wendell and Noble
Wendell Berry died at home in Port Royal, Kentucky, on August 31st. The poet, novelist, essayist, and Mad Farmer lived along the Kentucky River. He was 92. Wendell [...]
Allen Bush
Humbled, but Plowing On
In 1995, after 15 years, I closed Holbrook Farm and Nursery in North Carolina and moved back to Louisville, Kentucky. What was I going to do next? A cockamamie [...]
Buckeyes and a Pie
In the early 1970s I was fortunate to share a charming small brick farmhouse with a rotating cast of friends in rural Central Kentucky. The rent was $60.00 per month [...]
The Cottonwood, Peregrines, and Ferns that Could Not Be Iced
The premise of my earlier story, about a rooftop sycamore that could not be iced, was misleading. A sycamore got iced, in that the tree turned out to be [...]
Death is Not a Sales Pitch
I have a graveyard of dead flowers and a spreadsheet with sobering evidence to prove my point. Today in celebration of Garden Rant’s 20th anniversary, I am finally attempting [...]
Gratitude for TreesLouisville and O.B. Coward’s memorial tree
I pulled over last month while driving down Logan Street in Louisville’s Shelby Park neighborhood. I spotted a small memorial encircled by scuffed-up salvaged bricks under a young tree [...]
Mendelssohn, birdsong and rain drumming on a metal roof
We finally got rain in Central Kentucky after a dry April and early May. Five inches! It may turn dry again. There is no telling. Feast or famine? There [...]
Bill Best Knows Best About The Wonders of Beans
The Commonwealth of Kentucky has a long-distinguished history of seed selection and preservation. Before Bill Best got serious with heirloom green bean seeds, there were Native Americans who put [...]
A Rooftop Sycamore That Could Not Be Iced
For several years I have admired one tree whenever I drive down Logan Street in Louisville’s East Smoketown neighborhood. The lonely sycamore is growing on the rooftop of a [...]
We Need Difficult Women Now More Than Ever
Louisville’s Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s recent invitation for Women Who Shape the Landscape caught my attention. I enjoy public events, especially when I am moved by people with talent and [...]
The Lost Garden of Karaj and Iran’s Forgotten Dream
Karaj—a town west of Tehran—was heavily bombed one week into “Operation Epic Fury.” Few readers would know Karaj for any gardening significance or for the presence of Iranian Revolutionary Guard [...]
Unpacking J.C. Raulston’s Chlorophyll
I have for several years been divesting books. Many have gone to good homes. The inspiration to declutter—a bit—came from an essay written in 1931 by German philosopher Walter [...]