With a poem by Barbara Browne Ah, forsythia. It’s brief season is coming to a close here in Western New York, but over the past couple weeks I think I have seen every kind of use or misuse of the plant. Many awful little meatballs or boxes in rows can be viewed in both city … Read more
April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. TS Eliot From The Wasteland. I know – everyone quotes this as April arrives, … Read more
Many years ago, in a family backyard in Alhambra, California, a 17 year old boy started propagating Camellias with the help of his mother and father. That young man’s name was Julius Nuccio. Over the last 89 years, since 1935, the Nuccio family have been responsible for growing, breeding and introducing some of the most … Read more
Guest post by Tim Calkins They’re everywhere, whirling blades showering off the maples in every gust of wind, the next crop of trees on the move. The first of the horde appeared on the pathways in mid-April, delivered by yesterday’s gusts. They struck me as unusually pink, since those I typically see in my garden … Read more
Visitors’ first sight of my front garden – before. I have a happy update to a rant about hating my arborvitae hedge, which I had removed in late 2019. (You may be wondering why I planted something so ugly in the first place – even before they started dying. Well, it’s about co-op rules, which … Read more
There was a luxuriant stand of it in my grandparent’s garden. It fascinated me as a child and I would be hard put to say whether the tiny waxy bells or the scent – rich, fresh and sweet all at once – attracted me most. When I started my own garden, lily of the valley … Read more
What’s in a plant name, indeed? I enjoy finding new-to-me cultivars at the garden center or spring plant sales that stretch the limits of reasonable nomenclature with their hyperbolic, fanciful or puzzling monikers. Kind of like my favorite example outside the garden sphere, a local company called Accurate Trash Removal. This season’s discoveries started with … Read more
I think I’m a reasonably competent gardener. I’ve been gardening for over 25 years now, and for 20 of those years I’ve been earning my living in nurseries and gardens. In the early days I was confident about my knowledge; now I’ve come to be at peace with the vastness of things I will never … Read more
Massive storms rolled through Kentucky in late May. We were spared disaster. Thousands of others weren’t so lucky. Trees were downed and power knocked out. This wasn’t the Commonwealth’s maiden voyage with Mother Nature’s crumbling disposition. We’ve been nipped in the bud before, and we’ll be nipped again. I may be stalled by the … Read more
My career has, so far, involved working with both nurseries and private gardens. I’m also involved in plant trials and, without wanting to sound too big-headed, I have a reputation as someone who knows a thing or two about plants. There’s one question I struggle to answer; what actually makes a good plant? F&F: Flowers … Read more