A Forgotten Lincoln in our Hosta Chain
This will be the only garden rant you’ll ever read connecting Abe Lincoln, Southern Indiana, hostas and dirt. We will begin with the dirt. Lots of dirt. A sprawling pile [...]
Bob Hill, Ranter Emeritus
Peter the Great’s Fountain-Filled Gardens
Most gardeners after about 40 years in the asparagus patch begin to at least consider downsizing. You know, cutting back to only three-quarters of an acre of weeds, fewer disease-plagued [...]
Tin Chickens are the Right Garden Art for Us
In the end it came down to a pair of ornamental tin chickens, both of them, no doubt, created in a distant and dangerous land soon to be confronting more [...]
Ordering Butterflies by Weight for Weddings, Parties, or Domes
As it turns out butterflies are not free. They can cost anywhere from $3 to $6 each. They will arrive at your doorstep in small white insulated boxes carried by [...]
Customers in Search of the Perfect Plant
Bob's perfect plant We are all forever perched on a learning curve in the horticulture business. There’s always way more to learn than any of us will ever [...]
Kids and Kudzu for a Better World
Students competing in the 2015 fair We who worry and wonder about our social-media-obsessed youth and the future of horticulture found some relief at a recent gathering of [...]
From Seasonal Affective Disorder to Pursuing Inner Happiness with Witchhazels
Dwarf peach 'Theodore Klein' Current politics notwithstanding, I again deal in late winter with a mild case of SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder – that sluggish, depressed feeling [...]
Historic Utica, Indiana – where tulips make the town
There is a soldiers and sailors memorial garden near the center of my small Ohio River town that also pays homage to our local police and firemen. Nobody wanted to [...]
The Clarion Call of Brugmansia
October is peeking its nose up over the horizon now, shortening the days, painting the landscape, dredging up reluctant thoughts of the leaf blower and raggedy sweaters. And yet it’s [...]
17 New Plants, One Aging Gardener
'Midnight Magic' So having just returned from a favorite nursery with 17 new plants I didn’t really need – but couldn’t live without – my mind leans toward [...]
Perfect Prairie Meadow? More like Field of Broken Dreams
Queen of the Prairie My lust for the perfect prairie meadow show – aided and abated, of course, with the need for a new septic system – began [...]
A Whole Different Spin on Planting in Pots
There have been very few opportunities for even the most avid of gardeners to plant bright red geraniums in an old, gray washing machine tub, so pay attention to this [...]