Preaching among the choir about native plants
Lurie Gardens, Chicago If one more person asks me if I have heard of or read books by Doug Tallamy, I’ll …. Well, I guess I won't really [...]
Elizabeth Licata
Mad for Madison
Madison private garden We’re not exactly known as “fly-over” states, but some of us in the Great Lakes area have to try harder to convince out-of-towners we’re cool. It shouldn’t be necessary. Thanks to, [...]
Marketing to gardening ignorance
I always have books around and these are good ones. I'll be giving these to the beginning gardeners I know, except for Tom's, which I'll keep. Beginning gardeners [...]
Monty, Monty, Monty
Cue the swelling music, and then … Huge! Magnificent! Spectacular! Astonishing! Extraaaooordinary! Count on hearing those superlatives and more over the course of Monty Don’s three-part American Gardens, which aired [...]
Ready to release beneficial insects indoors?
Yes, this is a thing. When I posed the question to a few close gardening friends, I got either or both of these responses: “Huh?” and “NO WAY!” However, I [...]
What’s in a decade? Plenty of gardening, for sure.
2010 was the year 70 garden bloggers came to Buffalo and toured this lovely spot, among others. There’s been a deluge of backward-looking articles and posts, so why [...]
Selfies by gardeners – is this really about plants?
I love my new monstera but not enough to take a selfie with it. The question was staring at me from my Facebook feed, in the form of [...]
Amaryllis – a no-maintenance plant, finally
But. Unsurprisingly, that is the opposite of what many gardeners want. After paying scant attention to this trend as talk of it reached me last year, I finally took the [...]
Bulb addiction – the first step is admitting you have a problem
This is the initial pile (partial view). At this moment, two things are true. I still have 4 boxes of bulbs—maybe 250 or so total—sitting in the back [...]
Burning bush – the shrub that won’t go away
Serviceberry, Boston ivy and hydrangea are at their best in fall here. And there are many, many other great choices. “What’s this beautiful shrub?!” was the question on [...]
Don’t worry: plant bulbs
Tarda 'Dasystemon' species tulips: these have returned for me for years. That’s the title of a talk I gave recently for a suburban/rural gardening club, though maybe it [...]
Optimistic about my garden this fall
Niagara River rapids in October It’s time to breathe a sigh of relief—one tinged with melancholy, perhaps. Aside from getting a few hundred bulbs in the ground before [...]