Plants we love, hate, or just have something to say about.
Rosa 'Dr. Huey.' Guest rant by Mike Nowak. Mike recently interviewed Ranters Susan Harris and Marianne Willburn for his radio show and it’s now available here on YouTube or here [...]
And will my fennel survive the caterpillars? Brood X cicada on a banana tree leaf in my front yard. We're seeing torrents of news here in Maryland about [...]
I’m not exactly mad about saffron, but I do love the seasonal yellows I am seeing throughout the garden. As it happens, a yellow shade, Illuminating, is one of the [...]
I'm all about the vines since I've started training them to give me screening and privacy (see before and after in this video). But I hadn't included clematis in the [...]
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 [...]
You’ll prize the rarity of bloom. Look forward to seedlings from those that drop dead. You’ll have fewer seizures in a garden with less variegated plants. And you’ll take pride in living long enough to enjoy the slow grower that has finally achieved some size.
These chairs I painted last fall just HAPPEN to match the azaleas behind them. Believe me, I didn't even consider the azaleas when I chose the paint color. [...]
Yellow Island I am, floristically speaking, a sybarite. Though I will attempt to enjoy the occasional long weekend at an Oberoi or Four Seasons, especially so as the [...]
When I saw this quote/paraphrase from Sir Mixalot's 1992 hit in my local gardening group, I thought, “Finally. Somebody gets me.” My gardening life is punctuated by love/hate relationships with [...]
I've grown several spirea shrubs over the years but it wasn't until I found the 'Ogon' variety that I became thoroughly smitten, recommending it to the dozens of people who've [...]
For over a year I have looked forward to a time when there would no longer be the heavy burden of social distancing. Visits with friends were scarce during the [...]
Molly Bush and a young swamp white oak in upper left hand corner. Tim Barnwell photo. [...]
