Existential Choices: Gardeners v Bugs
"A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand." Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 AD) It was a perfect night for [...]
Jenny Price Nelson, Guest Ranter
Put Me in, Coach! I’m Ready to Play!
Coralie Thomas sprang up from Great Dixter’s famous long border like an Olympic gymnast who had stuck the landing. The assistant head gardener had crossed the finish line of a [...]
Mom’s Garden
Though once we may have travelled across the globe and back, there comes a time when we slip the passport into a drawer and our daily path shrinks to the [...]
Down the Yellow Brick Road with Millie
Millie Ellis, the quintessential avant-gardener When Mildred Rose Ellis was a girl growing up in the Village of Batavia, Ohio, her family lived in an old schoolhouse. [...]
Geek out with Thursday Garden Chat
Few things in life are more satisfying than getting together with a good friend to geek out over plants. On that, we can all agree. If your eyes light up [...]
Orchid Love, An Origin Story
Walking into Dotty and Berry Woodson's greenhouse is like walking into heaven, but thankfully you don't have to perish to get there. You do need to make an appointment or [...]
Thanksgiving and the Family Tree
Thanksgiving has arrived! The cool season annuals are finally going out. As I put them in their places, Charlie Brown tunes pop into my head. We're all feeling festive. Bill’s [...]
Garden Surfing: You Should Try It!
Remember the talking dog named Dug from the movie Up—the one that flips out when he sees a SQUIRREL? That’s me when I see plants. Plant obsession disorder, particularly a severe [...]
A Great Dixter Education
At Great Dixter in the golden light of a brilliant morning, three little boys traveled along the meadow path. A sweet summer mix of native grasses, yellow rattle, hawks bit [...]
On the Roof at Lurie Garden
If the powers that be at Chicago’s Millennium Park ever asked me to choose a theme song for Lurie Garden, I would suggest Up on the Roof, first performed by [...]
New Year’s Resolution: Kill Red Imported Fire Ants!
Red imported fire ants (RIFA) traumatize nearly every gardener they meet, but like Travis at the Alamo, “I shall never surrender or retreat.” Despite the unrelenting torture they dish out, [...]
Ode to the Green Anoles: Southern Bug Zappers
My latest Guest Rant is dedicated to America’s green anole lizards, the Rodney Dangerfield of beneficial predators. They’re cute. They eat bugs. They don’t bite people. And yet, compared [...]