This summer, I rediscovered my own backyard
July was a big month here in Buffalo. In addition to the usual Open Garden days and regional weekend tours, we welcomed 72 Garden Fling attendees from 26 states and [...]
Elizabeth Licata
Two things that are getting old: me and being talked down to in the garden center
I have but one request of nursery and garden center personnel. Could we please stop treating all customers as though they’re buying the first plant for the first garden they’ve [...]
Gardening AI is still not there
Back in our innocent pre-ChatGBT days, we were excited about how emerging technologies could help gardeners. We were on the watch for new phone apps that could help with identification [...]
‘Skip the flowers’ on Mother’s Day? No thank you.
It happened in the run-up to Valentine’s Day and now I’m seeing it as Mother’s Day approaches. “Skip the flowers!” cry various online ads for a wide range of businesses. [...]
Visit a city where gardening is required
My fellow Ranter Susan Harris said it best: “Buffalo had lots of doubters, but boy did that city shut them up!” She’s referring to the Garden Comm conference that was [...]
What is ‘common sense’ gardening? Allan Armitage has a book for that.
We rarely write about books on Rant – well, I have been barely writing at all – but it doesn’t mean we don’t love books on gardening and want them [...]
Once again, the urban gardener stands alone
I’m trying not to feel needy after reading the latest “leave the leaves” wisdom in a very good article by Margaret Roach (gift link) that ran in the NYTimes last [...]
Are we surprised that movie stars detest leaf blowers even more than we do?
If you hate leaf blowers, you have some famous company. Many of you may have already seen Thursday's article in The Guardian, “‘Everything that is wrong with the human race’: [...]
Summer’s golden finale is best seen along the highways
Late summer road trips are my favorite. Even the most boring highways - and all the ones we take are, because speed and efficiency is valued over scenery - are [...]
No, I don’t cut my (insert plant name here) back
Everyone has their own style of gardening, I tell myself. Try to be more tolerant, I tell myself. Admit that you’re in no position to throw even the tiniest pebble, [...]
Catching the Garden Walk bug in Memphis
“We don’t have anything like this.” That’s one of the most frequent comments I hear when visitors from out of state come through my garden (entrance shown above) during Garden [...]
Mesmerized by magnolias, captivated by crape myrtle
Every year, 70-80 garden tourists who also maintain blogs or other regular garden-related postings get together to see a city’s gardens. We call it a Fling and this year it [...]