By late October there is nothing more to orchestrate and everything can be left to sprawl and bloom with abandon. The hard-working sedum “Autumn Joy” comes into its own and the blues of the late asters take over from the yellow and orange harmonies of September. … Read More
The trio of an Abottswood potentilla, alchemilla mollis and white bleeding heart makes a quiet corner in the late spring, early summer garden. The similarity between the emerging alchemilla leaves and the palmate potentilla leaf are a surprise and add to the interest of the grouping. … Read More
The enduring pleasure of underplanting Japanese maple with hostas derives from the contrasting foliage — it might be considered the textbook example, juxtaposing deeply-cut, red foliage with large, rounded, green, blue-green, or variagated leaves. The corrugated texture of some hosa leaves is another reason to linger over this pairing. … Read More
Despite their brief show of flowers, it is worth finding space for Siberian irises. They are trouble-free and if happy will quickly make a substantial clump of attractive upright foliage in the border. … Read More
Cow parsley and blue columbines help to integrate the mass of the rhododendron with the surrounding border. All three thrive on the north side of the house. … Read More
Inspirational nursery, treasure trove of botanical diversity, enticement to garden adventurously, vendor of plant delight. With much appreciation, thank you!
When bees come to visit the earliest flowers, I know that spring is truly here. … Read More
Even the lowly (because ubiquitous) spirea can surprise you with loveliness on a blustery day in April. My main complaint is that it has too many merits, requires too little of us, which seems churlish just now, when spirea is the first shrub to leaf out most bravely. … Read More
Galanthus, more commonly: snowdrops, are one of the earliest garden pleasures in the year, often breaking through the snow long before February is over. And now in mid-March they are still looking splendidly sturdy. They are a welcome sign that spring is indeed progressing and that renewal can happen. Again. … Read More
Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) is a book that will astonish in its subtle weave of forms of knowing our world and in its homage to the generosity of the plants that surround us, made us, and can save us. … Read More