Wildflower Wednesday is hosted on the fourth Wednesday of every month by Gail at Clay and Limestone. Sadly, I have no blooming wildflowers to write about at this time. However, in anticipation of the coming spring (only 59 days to go!), I will talk about one of my favorite spring wildflowers for shade: Merrybells (Uvularia …
I’m very fond of purple coneflowers and other members of the genus Echinacea. However, there is something disconcerting about the multitude of occasionally bizarre Echinacea cultivars being put out by plant breeders. I mean, what was the thinking behind Echinacea ‘Double Decker’? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a straight species purist. I plant cultivars. …
I am not at all systematic about color. I mean, I do think about which plant combinations look good. But I have never had a color scheme for any of my flower beds as a whole. Not that I felt the lack of a color scheme very acutely up until now. I was too busy …
Extreme weather dominates my thoughts about gardening for this past year. It started with extreme winter mildness. This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but it was unnerving for those of us accustomed to harsh Chicago winters. January was about 8 degrees warmer than normal on average. Snow melted, the snowdrops (Galanthus) came up …
Charleston was one of the first major towns in the American colonies. The historic district is full of well-preserved buildings from the early 19th and 18th Centuries. In fact, it seems every building in that part of town had a plaque attesting to its age and historic significance. I found Waterfront Park and the Battery …
If perennial flowers are the backbone of your garden, as they are of mine, you may occasionally feel the need for an orthopedist. Keeping perennial flowers blooming, attractive, upright, adequately contained, and the right size and shape is an ongoing challenge. Experience and occasional expert advice are necessary to meet that challenge with reasonably consistent …
Gail over at Clay and Limestone hosts Wildflower Wednesday on the fourth Wednesday of the month. I’ve been travelling and forgot about this, but I’m not too embarrassed to bring up the rear with a tardy post. I don’t know about you, but it does me good as I hunker down for winter to think …
This is a book that should be read slowly. The writing is certainly clear and accessible, but the text is dense with thought-provoking insights on garden design. The insights are illustrated with gorgeous photographs that merit close study. Designing with Plants is more of a meditation on garden design, rather than a how-to book. But …
It was late October just about ten years ago, when my younger son looked at me with considerable exasperation and asked, “Dad, why do we have the only house with giant brown stalky things in the front yard?” This is as good as any introduction to the issue of autumn garden clean-up. More specifically, is …
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