I’ve been visiting the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Rosemoor in Devon, UK, for 20 years or more now. Over that time I’ve seen many changes, some grand and some subtle. Best of all I’ve been able to enjoy the sight of trees growing and maturing. On my very first visit I fell in love … Read more
Video: Pollinators in My Front Garden In a recent post I revealed the uptick in “pollinator action” in my townhouse front garden, thanks to suggestions that GardenRant readers made (to this post) for more critter-friendly annuals than the coleus I’d been growing in pots but which attracted nothing. And finally (after a winter of technical … Read more
An Easter Treat: There’s only one flower which makes me catch my breath on sight. Well, at least that’s as far as I can remember at this time of year. And last night it was this: Tulip Pastel Parrot Cabanna (I think) It looked quite boring in bud then – turned into this! Wonderful. Now, … Read more
The bubbling fountain came last, the watery finish to a wonderfully sunny day spent playing in the dirt. Sure, spring had officially arrived a few days earlier, but to me the first full day of useful sunshine is what really counts as spring, not some moveable number on the calendar. To lean slightly into the … Read more
“I don’t like yellow.” A strange comment, especially from someone whose garden was awash with golden daffodils and zingy yellow primroses. Royal View I believe that the fashion for disliking yellow, a fashion quite entrenched in certain parts of the UK’s gardening community, originated from a comment made by the then Prince Charles (now King … Read more
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