Last night Judy and I went to a lecture given by the noted author, plantsman and garden designer Piet Oudolf. The talk was sponsored by the Lurie Garden, which is appropriate because the Lurie was Oudolf’s first commission in North America. The presentation was an overview of his career starting with the creation of his …
The Tulip is a fascinating history of the relationship between people and this enchanting spring flower. In very different places and times, many have been obsessed with tulips, due in part to their enormous and irrepressible bundle of genetic variability, capable of all sorts of surprising tricks with color, shape, and habit. And people have …
The garden we loved best when we were in England last September was the late Christopher Lloyd’s Great Dixter. And so when we returned home I was determined to read some of his garden books. I have been drawn to and perplexed by the subject of color in the garden for some time, and …
Weeds Find a Way is a different kind of nature book for kids ages 4-8. You might wonder why I am writing a review of a kids’ book, as it has been many years since I’ve had kids in the house. Well, for one thing, I was offered a copy. But for another, reading aloud …
Latin for Gardeners is a fine book for people who love plants and enjoy language. Perhaps not a book that is essential to your gardening success, but a book that provides a good deal of entertainment and enlightenment. For instance, isn’t it worth something to know that Alyssum (now Lobularia) was at one time used …
Planting is one of the most provocative and useful books about garden design that I have ever come across. While it is full of ideas that home gardeners may want to borrow, it is not a how-to book about a specific approach to garden design. Rather, it is a discussion of a general trend, a …
The pile of 2014 garden catalogs on my night stand continues to grow. We’ve already talked about Bluestone Perennials and Burpee. Now let’s look at three more catalogs, each engaging in its own way: White Flower Farm, Plant Delights Nursery, and Forest Farm. White Flower Farm (WFF) is sort of the Williams-Sonoma of garden catalogs. …
Keeyla Meadows is an artist and garden designer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her garden is indeed fearless, as Judy and I can attest after seeing it during the 2013 Garden Bloggers’ Fling. When we got back I wanted to read Fearless Color Gardens, her book about color and garden design. She has …
The interview below was posted in June, 2013. I was surprised and honored to see it referenced in Mr. Lacy’s New York Times obituary, but I think it may have been one of the last interviews given by the author. I became acquainted with Mr. Lacy online after he wrote me a friendly note in response …
Late last year I got interested in trying to be more deliberate about the color schemes in my garden. Prior to that, I thought in terms of how two or three plants might fit together in terms of color, but never of a whole bed, let alone a whole garden. When I wrote about this …
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