Lifestyles
Gardeners questions
Over the years, I’ve gotten lots of questions about gardening. Most are the usual ones — when to…
Lifestyles
Tomato mania
You’ve heard of Crimson Tide? Well, last month I had a red tide running through my kitchen. Way…
Lifestyles
The gardener and the wedding: Part II
The wedding is fast approaching — Labor Day weekend. Invitations have been sent, responses have been tallied, accommodations…
Lifestyles
Luxurious food
Mention luxurious food and most people think of heaping servings of beluga caviar, raw sea urchins, foie gras,…
Lifestyles
The lazy gardener
I don’t know exactly how it happened, but, at nearly 72, I find myself managing two homes and…
Lifestyles
Moss: Going with the flow
Some gardeners have very inflexible opinions about how their gardens should look; they insist on imposing their will…
Lifestyles
The gardener and the wedding: Part I
In most families when a daughter brings home a serious boyfriend and announces her engagement, there is an…
Lifestyles
The art of keeping plants alive
About every six weeks, I get a text from someone I know. It contains only a photo of…
Lifestyles
Pass-along garden
We gardeners just naturally share plants. In fact, it’s not unusual for someone to have what’s fondly known…
Lifestyles
After the storm
January is usually all about reading seed catalogs by a roaring fire and making endless wish lists of…
Lifestyles
Procrastination and the shortest day of the year
It’s early December and the shortest day of the year is upon us. The air is frosty before…
Lifestyles
Those crazy plant people
We plant people tend to be a crazy, obsessive bunch. We plant the same variety of tomato that…
Lifestyles
Eat local: Grow your own
Go to just about any restaurant these days and you’re likely to hear a recitation of the origins…
Lifestyles
A tale of a swale
Generally, I don’t get involved in moving earth to change the lay of the land when I garden.…
Lifestyles
Curing the August doldrums
It was unspeakably hot and dry, and then we got lots of rain. My hostas look as if…
Lifestyles
Roses and garden envy
It’s true. Garden envy is a terrible thing, but I admit that I have a serious case. My…
Lifestyles
It’s June: Take a break
The early spring madness of clean up, pot up, sow seeds, moan about dead plants, and rush around…
Lifestyles
Mock orange: An old favorite for today’s garden
Many years ago, everyone’s grandma had several mock orange bushes in her garden. They were used to mark…
Columns
Bletilla: A Tough Orchid for the Home Garden
People tend to think of orchids as fragile, showy tropical plants that are too finicky for home gardeners.…
Columns
Allium ‘Millenium’: 2018 Perennial of the Year
There are several groups that name perennial plants of the year, but the announcement I always watch for…
Columns
Gazing into my crystal ball: gardening trends for 2018
A New Year and a new opportunity for gardening. What more could anyone want. January is when the…
Columns
Bringing in the sheaves: Part II
By late fall, the pace of life on the farm had slowed to an almost leisurely pace. Sure,…
Columns
Heresy in the garden
Full disclosure upfront: this column is about disagreeing with conventional wisdom and the politically correct. It’s full on…
Columns
A new trend: Houseplants as pets
According to conventional wisdom and some research, having a pet generally makes people calmer and healthier. Pets encourage…
Columns
Bringing in the sheaves
When I was a kid, late summer/early fall meant harvest time — black eyed peas, purple hulls, the…
Columns
Meet the cleomes
Have you met the cleomes? They’re old, favorite garden plants that are enjoying renewed interest. The heirloom “Rose…
Columns
It’s important to eat your greens
I might have gotten carried away when I planted the early spring garden this year. I always plant lettuce,…