I ENJOY TAKING A BREAK from yard maintenance over a New England winter. It gives me time to enjoy other pursuits, travel and reflect on what I would like to do with my yard in the future. While getting revitalized last year in the land of palms and p

EACH YEAR plant brands release exciting new cultivars to market, the results of years of breeding, selecting, trialing and propagating. New plants are bred to enhance traits that make them stand out against comparable cultivars—and in your garden. On

Like most passionate gardeners, I am always looking for new plants. Whether I’m visiting a friend’s garden, hiking a nature trail or just driving down the road, when I spot an interesting plant, I must check it out. This usually leads to wondering if

SOMETIMES THE SETTING in a tv show or movie is such a prominent part of the story that it almost becomes another character. Examples include coastal Cornwall in the BBC series Poldark and the Rocky Mountains in Robin Wright’s movie Land. Sometimes ev

I’M A CURIOUS and impetuous guy. Good at thinking but terrible at remembering. And dammit if I’m not impatient. My history of jumping in and starting on ideas rather than thinking them through is legion. I suppose I just plain fear ideas falling thro

IS ANY CROP AS BELOVED by gardeners as the tomato? It’s certainly the most anticipated harvest in my garden. Each spring I plant my family’s favorites as well as a few new-to-us varieties. My go-to’s include ‘Sungold’, ‘Galahad’, ‘Cherokee Purple’, ‘

The shade tables at your favorite garden center offer a full gamut of perennials with foliage as their main feature. (Picture the intricate fronds of hardy ferns, the bold, broad leaves of giant hostas, the polka dots on pulmonaria.) We’ve learned we

When I talk about herbs with fellow gardeners, their first thought is “basil,” followed by parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme—like the Simon & Garfunkel song. For many, culinary herbs are synonymous with Mediterranean plants. My herb books list the sa

WHEN I STARTED my first vegetable garden more than 30 years ago, I puzzled over whether to direct sow my seeds in the soil or start them indoors on a windowsill. “Or maybe I should just buy a bunch of seedlings from a local garden center and plant th

In times of uncertainty, many of us find our refuge in the garden. Labyrinth gardens go a step further, combining the peaceful beauty of favorite plants with an ancient design that facilitates walking meditation. “Labyrinths go back 4,000 to 6,000 ye

EACH YEAR plant brands release exciting new cultivars to market, the results of years of breeding, selecting, trialing and propagating. New plants are bred to enhance traits that make them stand out against comparable cultivars—and in your garden. On

I HAVE CHERISHED a good number of trees over the years. Some I have planted myself in my yard and others belong to neighbors, strangers, parks and public forests. I’ll gladly drive a longer route home just to see if a certain flowering magnolia in to

HOUTTUYNIA CORDATA, the chameleon plant. It sure does look nice for a few years after the unsuspecting gardener plants it. All perky and peppy, it is a joy to have and behold. A clash of color, an explosion of variegation, a hornet’s nest of vigor, i

I GREW VERY TIRED of hearing about English gardens when I was a horticultural student at the New York Botanical Garden in the mid-1970s. They filled the role of a very talented older sibling whom you were urged to emulate, with the unspoken assumptio

Evergreen conifers have always been a staple for year-round interest and structure in the landscape. Undemanding, reliable and ever-present, these shrubs and trees are nonetheless special. The group’s smorgasbord of colors, textures, sizes and shapes

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO recently reported that the Vatican has opened a public exhibition called “Life and Death in the Rome of the Caesars” that features a Vatican Necropolis, a Roman burial ground located a few feet beneath St. Peter’s Basilica in Ro

Sedges have enjoyed unprecedented attention the last few years. Articles in The Washington Post (2017), Horticulture (2022) and Landscape Architecture (2023) introduced many gardeners to plants in the genus Carex, which are commonly referred to as se

HERE IS MYoccasional collection of apparently unrelated gardening ramblings, this time associated with 2023’s winter and the subsequent growing season in southern New England. It helps me to write down such items to better prepare myself for future s