Lahaina’s gigantic banyan tree was my first love
Though I live 4,234 miles away in Central Kentucky, my feelings for Hawaii have been heartfelt since the first time I landed there. The historic town of Lahaina was [...]
Allen Bush
Nasturtiums naturally
I am a bit player in the legacy of a nasturtium dynasty. My mother, Molly Bush, was our matriarch. She sowed annual nasturtium seeds devotionally every Good Friday. This [...]
The many hats of Allan Armitage
I was happy to hear Allan Armitage a few weeks ago at Louisville’s wonderful Waterfront Botanical Gardens. Dr. A will take us on a journey, one that starts with [...]
The Best of Delusional Gardening
I hightailed it down to Asheville a few weeks ago to catch up on lost time. I hadn’t seen Heather Spencer or Charles Murray for a few years. I [...]
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden
The central Kentucky dogwoods had barely finished blooming in early May when horticulturist, author, and speaker Abra Lee tipped me off to Camille T. Dungy’s new book, Soil: The [...]
Love the weeds you’re with
I have taken liberty with Stephen Stills’s 1970 song Love the One You’re With. The singer-songwriter, deep in the weeds of love, was working through an anguished relationship and [...]
Walking to New Orleans
Last weekend, in New Orleans, Rose and I rode a sensorial wave of music, food, blooms, and green lusciousness. Mercy me, it was good. All of it. The centerpiece [...]
Memories of Weesie Smith, Kurt Bluemel, and Two Plants They Shared
Mike Hayman was rummaging around in Louisville last month when he found a photo he’d taken of Louise “Weesie” Smith in her Birmingham, Alabama, garden on April 15, 2015. [...]
The Tremulous Excitement of a Daffodil Doo Dah
Many of you no doubt have grown tired of atmospheric rivers, Nor’easter blizzards, and bomb cyclones with “sting jets” like a “scorpion’s tail descending from the sky.” I would [...]
The Planet. Got anything else you’re worried about today?
U.N. Secretary-General António Gutteres spoke solemnly on Monday about the looming catastrophic consequences of climate change. He was yelling “Fire!” The tone: Make no mistake about it. There’s no [...]
Five Days as Desert Father
The first Desert Fathers were contemplative Christians holed up in Egyptian caves during the first couple of centuries A.D. (There were also Desert Mothers, of course.) I played Desert Father, [...]
Stop the Seed Steal?
An astonishing percentage of Republicans still believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen, though that fever seems to be simmering down slowly. The truth or nothing but the truth. It’s [...]