Tough Plants for Tough Places
Three warrior species are battling for dominance on the hillside outside my kitchen window. It is a cliched phrase in the garden writer’s book of spells, but it is nonetheless [...]
Marianne Willburn
A Gardener’s Yard Sale: Treasure Trove or Trash Dump?
Last weekend a friend and I happened upon a neighborhood yard sale filled with all the stuff my kids will be flogging when my husband and I permanently exit stage [...]
The Pleasures of Morels vs. The Fear of Black Bears: A Letter To The Midwest
May 13, 2021 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, The may apples have begun to bloom and the morels are fruiting. As your words on the subject of mushrooming were predictably dismissive [...]
Building Habitat Nests – For Wildlife and For Me
Over the last two winters, I’ve been engaged in a curious pursuit which has baffled some visitors but thrilled others – precisely the way I love to garden. I’m building [...]
Don’t Give Away Too Much Too Soon – A Letter to the Midwest
April 15, 2021 Lovettsville VA Dear Scott, Spring! Etc. etc. What a relief. I am torn between feeling overwhelmed each morning, and tearful gratitude. However, finding a new colony of [...]
In Defense of Inclusive Biodiversity
As a follow up to Elizabeth’s post last week remarking on the sorrowful tone of Margaret Renkl’s NYT article on non-native spring color, The AHS kindly allowed GardenRant to run [...]
A New Master Recipe Cookbook for Foragers & Gardeners
Foraging season has begun. Perhaps you’re ready to give this new (old) trend a try, excited by a lecture or what seems to be the endless forest bathing lifestyle of [...]
The Bees Are Dead, The Goldfish Are Not, and It’s Okay.
It’s the first day of spring and the bees are dead. After a long yesterday assessing the winter garden hangover – the deer-nibbled evergreens, the chicken-uprooted polygonatum, the muddy mess [...]
Adventures in Eden Provides a Needed Dose of Travel and Inspiration
Botanical travel is an indulgence that passionate gardeners too easily deny ourselves. If funds become available, we are ever-aware of the needs of our own gardens at precisely the time [...]
Finding Your Crunchy Niche in a New Age of Homesteading
It’s a running joke amongst our friends that our place is the safe house for any type of future apocalyptic scenario. I’d like to believe that they just want to [...]
Windcliff: A book for passionate and playful gardeners
The very best books on my shelves suffer scribbles in their margins. Future book sellers will either be amused or dismayed by my vandalism, but I cannot stop myself (and [...]
United in Condemnation & Tonic: A Letter to the Midwest
21 February 2020 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, It is Sunday morning, everyone is fed, and there is still six inches of crusty, icy snow upon the ground. The will to [...]