I have a special place in my heart for spring ephemerals. They are early harbingers of spring. Perhaps what I love is the surprise: You weren’t expecting us, but here we are! Volunteers are always welcome (though maybe not Dandelions and Creeping Charlie…). Perhaps I identify with their shy nature, since many of them have …

So I had the good fortune to meet a fellow avid gardener recently. His name is Mike Miller and he lives in the adjacent town of Wilmette. He was nice enough to invite Judy and me to visit his garden. As soon as we pulled up to the curb, I could see that it was …

So we got back from our trip to New York about a week ago. We had an excellent time, though travel wears me out more than it used to. Judy took about a thousand photographs (not an exaggeration). Most of the material I’m going to keep for later, but I do want to do one …

On Friday Judy and I visited the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG); it’s been a great place to visit since the pandemic struck. Since last June, CBG has been open to the public on a time-reserved basis. Getting our entrance passes online has been easy each time we’ve tried it. Here’s a link from our first …

It is now officially spring, snow has melted, buds are budding, and it seems like a good time for an overview of recent developments. So most of the garden still looks like this, but there are green bits emerging and even a few flowers.

Last week Judy had to go downtown to get her second COVID shot (yay!) and while there decided to visit the Lurie Garden. What she found was a bit concerning, especially when combined with other developments at Lurie over the past several months. It appeared that no attempt had been made to start the spring …

Recently the Chicago Botanic Garden was reopened to the public. You’ve got to make a reservation for a specific time slot, as they are controlling the number of people who can be present at any given time. So last Thursday Judy and I got a pass to enter at 5 pm, for our first visit …

For my final post on the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling, let’s take a look at the garden of Panayoti Kelaidis. Mr. Kelaidis is a substantial presence in the world of horticulture. For starters, he is the senior curator and outreach director at the Denver Botanic Gardens. He’s also an international plant explorer, an author with …

Going back once again to the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling last June, let’s talk about the private garden of Dan Johnson and Tony Miles. I loved it. It was relaxed, joyful, and crammed with goodies. Dan Johnson is a serious garden person: Associate Director of Horticulture at the Denver Botanic Gardens. And yet in the …

On the last day of the 2019 Fling we visited the Denver Botanic Garden (DBG). Its 23-acres are located in an urban setting, not far from downtown – unlike Chicago’s Botanic Garden, which is located in the far suburbs.