Plants we love, hate, or just have something to say about.
The rock gardens at Edinburgh BotanicGarden and Kew inspired me. Will Ingwersen’s 1977 publication of Manual of Alpine Plants educated me. A three-month job, pricking-out seedlings at Ingwersen’s Birch [...]
Original landscaping shown in this 1938 photo. Since moving to Historic Greenbelt, Maryland, where evergreen hedges are ubiquitous - and usually in the way - I've become almost [...]
Not a fan of brown in the garden? Pining for color in early fall, before the trees put on their big show? Me, too! Here's how desperate I am for [...]
I went out into the garden early one Sunday a few weeks ago. A few, but not all, of many zinnias were covered with leaf spot and/or powdery mildew. [...]
We've all got plants we really love. Probably hundeds of them. And maybe some we hate and banish as soon as spotted. But what about the inbetween ones, which we [...]
Gazing on this view of my back garden last month, I couldn't help but notice the many, many bees and butterflies spending time on the Joe Pye Weed, then checking [...]
Fellow Ranter, Anne Wareham, has this to say about dahlias: “Sigh. I gave up on dahlias when I got fed up of deadheading them. And constantly forgetting which was [...]
Crown Fritillary at Keukenhof Gardens Most of us greet the arrival of blooming bulbs in spring as a welcome sign that we’ve gotten to the far side of [...]
The common sunflower, Helianthus annuus, is probably one of the widely recognised flowers on Earth. Native to a range across the US, from Mexico in the south to Canada in [...]
This spring I was needing plants. Never, I hear you cry! Well, huh, I did. And I looked online for what I needed and was horrified at the cost of them. And [...]
In Susan's back yard, the comfrey is abuzz with bees. My friend Kathy Jentz (writer/editor/podcaster) told me not to miss her podcast interview with landscape architect Thomas Rainer, [...]
I'm back in Maryland after a short trip to Los Angeles, where these plants and gardens got me gasping with envy, or dying to learn about, or both. All in [...]
