Plants we love, hate, or just have something to say about.
Enjoyable opening acts
It is that brief, thrilling time when my front garden blazes with color - well, at least to me it blazes. Anyone walking by will note clumps of species tulips, [...]
Sick and tired of vendors jumping the gun
Last Sunday, we stopped at a local market to pick up vegetables for dinner. It was a rainy warmish day, with temps in the mid-to-high 50s. As we were entering [...]
Erythronium Magic at Greencombe Garden.
I left home again. We went to gaze at and learn about erythroniums, this being the time of year to do that. And to have a day out. We went [...]
Daffodils Die Big, Dumb, Dramatic, B-Grade, Silent Movie Deaths: Worth it?
And right then, before I can forget, I find my calendar app, scroll to some random date in August, and type, "Order more daffs."
Mind Your Garden Manners
Ah, April. Almost time to begin visiting other gardeners’ dreams come to life. Minding your manners when visiting another’s garden should come naturally to gardeners. After all, garden etiquette [...]
Pansies will do the trick
It’s still early, where I live. So far, only hellebores, chionodoxa and (waning) snowdrops are holding down the flower fort, with erythronium, scilla, species tulips and a few other bulbs [...]
Stuck Between a Stone and a Happy Place
Being a stone kinda guy, I spent a few happy hours the other day rescuing a rock garden just outside our shaded side door that had been buried in time, [...]
Ode to the Lovely Pasque Flower on Easter Day. But Wait, The World’s Only Pulsatilla Joke Included!
Therefore, I call all of them by the one common name I know--Pasque flower.
Thoughts On the California Spring Trials; (It’s a Strangely Complex and Beautiful Business)
But the industry has been around a long, long time. Uninterrupted really. Impulse buys and discretionary spending, I suppose, but people seem to really want and need beautiful plants in their lives.
California Spring Trials Ranter Road Trip Wrap Up
On a plane finally bound for Virginia after a long week on the road – and in between passenger elbows and what passes for airplane refreshments – I’ve got a [...]
The Tremulous Excitement of a Daffodil Doo Dah
Many of you no doubt have grown tired of atmospheric rivers, Nor’easter blizzards, and bomb cyclones with “sting jets” like a “scorpion’s tail descending from the sky.” I would [...]
Surprise Defenses of Non-Native Daffodils
Recently I was surprised to hear a friend refer to daffodils as native here in Maryland, an assumption she'd made because they do so well in this region. And that's [...]