Once upon a time, I found herb gardening a topic of mystique and mystery. Maybe it was the herb gardening books I found, with their illustrations of medieval knot gardens, and the cute little pots of culinary herbs grown on the wide, sunny windowsill of someone’s gourmet kitchen. Or maybe it was learning that many herbs prefer a Mediterranean climate with dry, rocky soil and lots of sunshine. How could I replicate that in Virginia? It may have been...
From November through May we can admire the living mathematics of the trunks and branches of hardwood trees. Their leafy crowns have fallen, and their beautiful bark in all its silvery, marbled, textured variety is revealed once again. Looking up, we sometimes see lively green clusters of mistletoe shining in the treetops. These shrubby, evergreen plants have been a part of myth and folklore since ancient times. They live suspended between heaven and Earth, rooted into the branches of...
Autumn color and falling leaves turn a gardener’s thoughts to the winter months ahead. While we’re still buying flats of bright pansies, pots of chrysanthemums and a pumpkin or two, let’s take the opportunity to also seek out evergreen ferns at local garden centers and online nurseries. Evergreen ferns brighten the winter landscape as the ‘main event’ in winter container plantings, as ground cover under trees, and in borders and foundation plantings. There are at least four...
What do you consider when choosing plants for your home and yard? We all have a checklist of criteria in the back of our minds. Our criteria are very personal to our own needs and situation. You may not purchase and plant as many plants as I do each year, but I’m sure that you enjoy the choosing and the planting just as much. We gardeners have been encouraged to plant more native plants for quite a...
Picnics with citronella candles, lemon scented furniture polish and sweet tea with lemons all recall happy childhood memories. Fragrance has a profound ability to create or shift a mood, to trigger memories and create new ones. Just as cinnamon evokes the holidays; crisp, cool lemon is a summertime fragrance. Most lemon scented plants thrive in warm climates. Lemon trees, Citrus limon, are hardy only to Zone 8. Originally native to Asia, they spread throughout the ancient world wherever the...
A friend was excited to buy milkweed plants at a WBG plant sale several years ago. They aren’t easy to find commercially, and few people raise them from seed. When I saw her again a few weeks later, I inquired about how her plants were doing. “Oh, I must have done something wrong. They’re not looking so good. Most of the leaves have disappeared,” she replied. I quickly reassured her that it was unlikely she had done...
Colorful flowers and enticing plants fill every table and rack at garden centers right now. Even the most experienced gardener may feel a little overwhelmed with so many beautiful choices. Annual or perennial? How big will this get? Will deer and bunnies eat it? How long will it bloom? Sun or shade? Will it grow in a pot? Will it stand the heat? How much care will it require? And most importantly, will it go the distance and survive all...
What blooms through the snow in your yard? Many older homes in our neighborhood have established clumps of evergreen hellebores blooming from January through April or May. Suddenly, there are delicate pink and white petals emerging in the depths of winter. I asked a new friend about them soon after we moved to Williamsburg, and she generously gave me trays full of seedling plants when she thinned hers that spring. What a wonderful gift! The plants she gave to me...
The swiftest way to find yourself in a rollicking argument with someone you may otherwise count as a friend, is to disagree with them over whether a plant is useful in the garden, or is a noxious, invasive weed. This drama can erupt among those of us passionate about our gardens and the plants we grow. We all know just enough to know we’re right, but these arguments over plants can hinge on nuance and circumstance. Do you know...
Is it possible to fall in love with a genus of plant? Absolutely. Some flowers appeal to us so persistently that we respond to them in ways that don’t quite make sense. Their pull on our imagination, our affections, and yes, our resources, defies reason. Across horticultural history you’ll find characters who left their home continents behind to collect favorite plants. You’ll find those who quit their day jobs to breed and grow them full-time. And you will find smitten...