As it turns out butterflies are not free. They can cost anywhere from $3 to $6 each. They will arrive at your doorstep in small white insulated boxes carried by FedEx trucks with purple and orange logos. They will come tightly sealed in skinny envelopes with necessary ice packs included. Then you can then pop … Read more
My connection to Wollam Gardens, the cut-flower farm in the Virginia exurbs of D.C., starts with this ridiculously cute couple – Hillary Gottemoeller and Joe Harris. I got to know them at my local cafe/music venue, where they perform their own songs and where Joe organizes events showcasing talented musicians from the region. (Here’s my … Read more
It’s that time of year again. Our local botanical gardens has joined the ranks of other such sites across the US to introduce a titan arum (“corpse flower”) event, based on the bloom cycle of the plant. I have never seen one of these in bloom and am not sure I’ll get there in time … Read more
As anyone who has ever opened a small, home-grown retail nursery can tell you, the economic reality for such is straight out of the veteran horse gambler’s prayer: Lord, I hope I break even, I need the money. So it went as we opened our Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden 19 years ago on … Read more
The next issue of the magazine I edit features heritage businesses in Western New York—the ones that have lasted more than 100 years. Amazingly, two we’re covering are garden centers (and there are more gardening-related companies we couldn’t fit in). I say amazingly because there are built-in problems with maintaining independent gardening businesses in cold … Read more
The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show is happening in Baltimore this week, and garden communicators (formerly “writers”) were there in droves! Here we all are at the breakfast event for media. Well, here they all are – I’d already started canvassing the vendor booths for familiar faces and interesting stuff to post about. GardenRanter Scott Beuerlein … Read more
Last week I got on a skinny little regional jet with four hefty Co-Horts from work, and with a screaming winter storm tailwind we arrived at BWI lickety split. Like the damned thing was the Concorde. Good thing. Even an hour on that plane next to my boss made an imprint of his credit card … Read more
Yesterday my long-time favorite garden center announced it’ll close soon. Here’s my tribute to the company and its people on a local blog. I’m reposting it here for the Rant’s broader audience because the closing is part of a very sad national trend. Also, it shows what great independent garden centers are doing for customers … Read more
Brent and Becky Heath I thought I knew how to grow daffodils – because who doesn’t? They’re critter-proof, perennial, drought-tolerant, and so on. Or so I thought until Brent Heath, co-owner of the beloved bulb company Brent and Becky’s, disabused me of my assumptions in his recent talk at Brookside Gardens outside DC. Having been … Read more
Back in 2015 I wrote about my two perfect watering cans and one that I deemed “flawed,” according to the caption (above). I declared cans to be perfect thanks to two features I always look for – balance, so that you can carry them without spilling (which the flawed one couldn’t do), and a large … Read more