There are things you've done right out there. Enjoy them. Sure, they were--in years past--probably done late, in haste, and at the expense of an enjoyable garden experience, but we can't keep banking gardening joy for some far off time. Spend some of it today.
Spring is just around the corner and will spring into its manic business faster than a mouse trap. There's never enough time to observe it. As always, I will just try to buckle up and enjoy what I can of it as I'm hauled variously across it as my own trajectory wobbles like a bottle rocket.
How do you calculate the value large trees bring to homes? How do we tally the annual unnecessary loss of such trees caused by irrational fears?
So, there I was, rushing around, randomly augering holes right and left and compromising like a son of a bitch. Little thought for siting. No memory for whatever poor, dormant plants I was augering into. Just get ‘em in the ground no matter what.
Hard Rake: "Tines down when I fall off the rack. Tines up when I'm laying on the ground. If he thinks I'm his friend, he's got another big knot on his forehead coming!"
I'll try harder to greet each morning with a death grip on the positive. I long to feel the clompy green, gold, yellow, brown sweetbay leaves kiss me awake.
In truth, there's not a lot of difference between the 20 or so hornbeam species, so collecting them might have been a little crazy. Still, I’m glad I did. They're all really nice trees. I've got specimens scattered around the yard and I've given several away to friends who are now in my debt and, because of that, try their best to overlook the awful things I routinely say and do when I'm around them. One thing I'll say about hornbeams that I can't say about most of my friends, they look wonderful from a distance and even better up close.
Thus, years and years of collecting has steadily been undone by an almost equal number of years de-collecting. It was hard at first, got easier over time, and now I remove an ugly plant with a strange grin on my face. It’s a god-like power I wield maniacally.
My first exposure to caladiums was a memorable one. I was not yet into horticulture. It was the 80s. I was working in an office in downtown Cincinnati and sometimes [...]
My God! I hate myself. I swear I used to be cool, like the dude in a Fistful of Dollars. Now I’m just Clint Eastwood.
This was a big summer for me. A huge summer. I had a blow out garden dinner party with a bunch of illustrious horticultural guests scheduled for the end of [...]
We've been together so much the last two weeks that it's changed everything. We've hung out together here and there before but never with so much quality time. I really feel like I know you so much better now. Although I'm trying very hard not to trust it, all this exposure has not meant I like you any less. This is not at all what I expected.
