Are show gardens making us bad gardeners?
Here are some sensible plantings at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, a lovely site we happened upon on the way to Connecticut. It's the less famous sites that tend to [...]
Elizabeth Licata
Resolving to become a better naturalist
Bluebell wood image courtesy of Shutterstock They knew where to go for the first of everything: the first snowdrops, the first catkin, primroses, violets, forget-me-nots, wild roses, honeysuckle. [...]
What I’m grateful for
I'm sure grateful for the chance to enjoy the gardens of Toronto with 70 other garden bloggers last June. As I just heard on an NPR report yesterday, [...]
The question of permeable pavers and paving
This is Dave's urban habitat project (detail) Last week, I posted about a beautiful parking lot that is conserving trees and water. It’s the project of my friend [...]
A kinder, gentler parking lot
“Where are you going?” “I’m driving to Hamburg to look at a parking lot.” “Is it OK if I don’t go with you?” This marital exchange took place on a [...]
Tovah Martin, houseplant whisperer
Once again, writer Tovah Martin, author of The New Terrarium (reviewed here in 2009), goes where many gardeners fear to tread—within the confines of the average centrally heated American home. [...]
The real benefits of a free, uncurated garden tour
Garden Walk Buffalo" and “© D. Zinteck, Photographics 2 As Garden Walk Buffalo approaches, I have already been participating in the Open Garden program, helping promote the other [...]
Strategies for drier times
It’s not just what’s happening “out west.” Water management of every kind is a huge issue for everybody, so I have been listening and reading with great interest to all [...]
Messy gardens—they’re a trend!
Bedhead is always in style in the Licata garden Trend reports are kind of trivial in the grand scheme of things—we can all agree on that. But they [...]
Q&A with the man for woody plants—Michael Dirr
With Michael Dirr at last week's Plant WNY event The true celebrities of the world of horticulture don’t appear on HGTV or gladhand at home and garden shows. [...]
Buffalo’s Famous Lake Effect Explained
Weather—we gardeners live and die by it. It may be a universal favorite as a water cooler topic, but when the chat is over, most can pretty much forget about [...]
What gardeners say about having their gardens on tour
As many Rant readers must know by this time, in Buffalo we have a yearly free garden tour called Garden Walk. Started in 1995 by two urban gardeners who wanted [...]