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 [...]
Marianne Willburn
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 [...]
New Book Gives Advice to Native Plant Lovers Battling Deer
Despite what you may have earnestly been told through grapevines that should know better, deer do not avoid native plants due to a convenient co-evolutionary agreement between flora and fauna. [...]
My Love Hate Relationship with Snow
There are few things more magical than a snowfall, and few terms more overused to describe it. Nonetheless, the cliché communicates the outright miracle of slowing a world that refuses [...]
Garden resolutions: The triumph of hope over experience.
The symbolic promise of a new year is not enough for me this time around. Normally happy to raise my glass and cheerfully throw out The Old as the clock [...]
Canna, hot greenhouse fantasies, and the brutality of ice. A Letter to the Midwest.
December 29, 2020 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, Well, I think we’ve established that you’re the better person at this point. As we will not agree about using shallow phrases [...]
The Pleasures and Perils of Young, Broke Gardens
To walk through a young garden in winter is a courageous act when the garden is your own, and the budget, diminutive. We forget how much frosting the active growing [...]
It’s #Ad Season. Don’t believe everything you see.
It’s the holiday season and our feeds are currently stuffed with gorgeous filtered photos and fifteen second videos warmed with soft music – all with one clear and focused goal: [...]
‘Stay Safe’ Just Ain’t Possible Round Here.
I cannot be left with my thoughts these last few days. I emerge from the experience in a ratty mood that doesn’t benefit anyone, least of all myself. Plus I [...]
Finding autumn…and art: A Letter to The Midwest
November 28, 2020 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, Thanks for your letter of 16 November. A good and thoughtful letter, which had me laughing. I wish you two lived closer so [...]
Red? Blue? What if you’re Purple…Or Green.
With all due respect to fellow garden industry bloggers, columnists, authors, speakers, and social media influencers who choose a different path, I chose long ago not to bring politics into [...]
Martha, October, and the magic of Li Ziqi – A Letter to the Midwest
October 17, 2020 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, Well, August is well and truly behind us. I don’t remember September. It had something to do with a copyediting deadline on the [...]