The Trouble with Dahlias
Fellow Ranter, Anne Wareham, has this to say about dahlias: “Sigh. I gave up on dahlias when I got fed up of deadheading them. And constantly forgetting which was [...]
Marianne Willburn
Wild Fatigue: A Case for Tidy Gardens
In a gardening age of wild, new wild, post-wild, or re-wild, the new radicals may very well begin to seek more order. I know I am. 'Tidy' isn't popular in [...]
Right Piece. Right Place: Ornaments in the Garden
We’ve all got them. Tchotchkes. Knick knacks. Doodads. More kindly put – and through squinted eyes – objets d’art. Unless you’re a minimalist with an inflexible disposition, your rooms and [...]
Twenty Years of Rant: Help Us Celebrate
I don't remember exactly when I first found GardenRant as a reader, but I remember the post was one of Susan's, and the comments stood out. Her controversial thoughts had [...]
Garden Building with Fresh POV
Over time, human beings become blind to the clutter that surrounds us – particularly the clutter that masks an awkward space. It’s the reason that right now, on a corner [...]
Social media gardens got you down? Here’s some of my ugly to keep you sane.
I am recently returned from almost six weeks away from my garden punctuated by a short week of illness at home, where I impatiently laid in bed, sipped broth, and [...]
Cultivating Informed Debate on Growing Greener Podcast
“Science, including the study of ecology is based not only on individual research…Informed debate and even controversy are fundamental to the advancement of scientific thinking.” -Thomas Christopher, Growing Greener Podcast [...]
Choosing To Be Curious in The Garden
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” asked the poet, Mary Oliver in her 1990 poem “The Summer Day” “Catastrophizing.” Says [...]
In Defense of The Gardener’s Voice
This post is long. It is a culmination of growing concerns that voices gentler and more knowledgeable than mine have articulated for some time; but that nevertheless continue to be [...]
The Most Informative Garden Books May Now Be Catalogs
Earlier this month, during a surprisingly warm week, Susan Harris, Scott Beuerlein and I represented GardenRant and joined 10,900 horticultural professionals in Baltimore for this year’s Mid Atlantic Nursery and [...]
A New Year. A New Deer Free Garden.
Winter is decidedly joyful this year. After 12 ½ years battling deer in my garden, and watching hundreds of dreams literally nipped in the bud, we finally installed a deer [...]
The Dirty Secrets of Composting
It's fantastic to see that the word "compost" is no longer a dirty one in modern American culture. There are a few hold-outs here and there, but I have noticed [...]