On Replacing a Public Perennial Bed with Turf, and the Public Reaction
Summer of 2019. Last year I wrote about the weedy mess of a perennial bed in front of my town's most important historic building. In 1985. [...]
Susan Harris
What’s the Point of Pergolas?
Pergolas in Daybreak, UT, outside Salt Lake City. A pergola in Maryland I saw way too much water-sucking landscaping when I was in Salt Lake City, [...]
Gardening in the Utah Desert and the Push for “Localscapes”
Temple Gardens, Salt Lake City As soon as I arrived in Salt Lake City for the national conference of garden communicators last month I heard from multiple sources [...]
I Hate my Arborvitae Hedge
I'm here to vent. In order to provide some enclosure and block the primary view from my house of a parking lot, I did the only thing that my co-op's [...]
September Visit to the Smithsonian Gardens
I feel lucky every time I ride the subway down to the National Mall, where the many museums and gardens are free - and fabulous. I did that recently and [...]
Scott Beuerlein Wins 2 Gold Awards at GardenComm 2019!
Saturday night in Salt Lake City was awfully good to GardenRanter Scott Beuerlein. First he collected a gold GardenComm Media Award for writing his magazine column. In the photo above [...]
First Comic Film Ever was about Gardening
I have a back-to-school post! Readers may remember my posts about the History of Landscape course I took last semester at the University of Maryland (as a free-tuition retiree – [...]
Easy Rain Gardens, Walk-in Tomato Cages and More from a Baltimore Master Gardener
Robert Cook in rain garden, with elderberry. My post about a recent tour of Baltimore gardens omitted one because it was SO interesting, I wanted to go back and [...]
Deer-Driven Container Re-Do – no more Sweet Potato Vine!
'Standing Ovation' Little Bluestem. Credit: North Creek Nurseries. Got deer? Then you relate to this sad before-and-after duo. I'd planted the red Iresine 'Blazin' Rose' there before, with [...]
Lotus Festival for ‘Grammers and Regular Photographers
There's only one national park dedicated to aquatic plants, and that's Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, located surprisingly IN the District of Columbia. I was there in Mid-July for their Lotus and [...]
DC is Tops in Green Roofs! Some Actual Good News
Did you know that Washington, D.C., with 1.2 million square feet of green roofs as of 2014, won bragging rights as the greenest U.S. city? No, really. (Source: EcoWatch.) If [...]
When Guerrilla Gardening is Just Stupid
Back in 2013 I wrote approvingly of DC's "Phantom Planter" and his planting of flowers in public spaces without permission - guerrilla-style. But with his latest attempt to beautify the [...]