As I contemplate the wonderful/frightening chaos of my August to September garden, I have been thinking about “garden worthiness,” particularly regarding native plants. The excellent people at Mt. Cuba Center do trials of many species looking into this very thing, and the criteria they use for evaluation include habit, vigor, and floral display, as well … Continue reading Garden worthy
My late friend, Fanny Phillips (1928–2004), was an enthusiast for many things. She wasn’t so much a gardener as a passionate collector and student of mostly exotic plants. She gave me my Bowiea volubilis (below right), as well as several flats of snowdrops from her compost piles, where they had naturalized. But she was especially … Continue reading Slow mulch and hedge fun
Several years ago I bought a book called “Use What You Have Decorating,” which provides useful suggestions about home decor based on the idea in the title: basically, look at your stuff and arrange it to achieve a pleasing result (while also fixing or avoiding common mistakes)—easier said than done, obviously. It occurred to me … Continue reading Winter Inspirations
If you want to support the natural environment in your garden, you have to decide where you fall along the order to chaos spectrum. Clearly, a gardener who is trying to provide ecological niches for insects and wildlife is not going to produce a Versailles-like symmetrical tapestry of plantings (not that many of us aspire … Continue reading Order and Chaos