No Way is There One Way to Garden
There’s more than one way to do everything. In gardening. In life. In planting an apple tree, or peeling apples over the sink. Certainly there are rules that guide us [...]
Marianne Willburn
If it means I don’t have to water, I’m good with the deck falling down.
It’s so dry right now in my little part of Rain Shadow, Virginia that even the blades of Japanese stilt grass are curling. When, last night, my husband decided, mid-sip, [...]
Umbellifers and Unbelievable Views: A Letter to The Midwest
Lovettsville, VA 24 July 2023 Dear Scott, I wonder if I should technically write ‘Lovettsville’ at the top of this letter, as I am sitting in the passenger seat of [...]
A Fond Goodbye to Pam Harper
Pam Harper died last week in her home in Seaford, Virginia at the age of 93 after a short illness; and the horticultural community who knew her and loved her [...]
Why I Don’t Want To Lose My ‘Ugly’ Snag
Whether by bug, bolt, or brutal conditions, large trees die from time to time, and our first impulse is to solve the problem by chainsaw. But if the tree is [...]
Clotted Cream and Rant Reunions: A Letter to The Midwest
Behind posts, articles, conferences and social media, there’s a backstory. Have you kept up with the digital correspondence between Ranters Scott Beuerlein and Marianne Willburn? You can start here, or [...]
It’s A New Growing Season! Cue The Paid Partnerships.
What are your numbers? From garden bloggers to your 15-year-old niece, one’s social media following has become a statement of self. At a recent trade show, I was introduced to [...]
Crass Confessions: A Letter to The Midwest
Behind posts, articles, conferences and social media, there's a backstory. Have you kept up with the digital correspondence between Ranters Scott Beuerlein and Marianne Willburn? You can start here, or [...]
California Spring Trials Ranter Road Trip Wrap Up
On a plane finally bound for Virginia after a long week on the road – and in between passenger elbows and what passes for airplane refreshments – I’ve got a [...]
Ranters On Their Way to The California Spring Trials!
Well Two of Them at Least.
Often the new plants gardeners stumble upon each year at our nurseries, feed stores and big boxes are happy accidents. We see, we lust, we buy. But what most don’t [...]
The Complete Book of Ground Covers:
Timber Press Built a Brand on Books Like This
If you’re doing it right, a non-fiction book should take a good deal of time to research and write. The statement is also true for good, gripping, fiction, but the [...]
A Defense of Hellebores
Do hellebores need a defense? I wouldn’t have thought so a decade ago, but three years ago I had to defend their cultivation to a master gardener who officially advised [...]