That time a white Christmas became a nightmare
It’s beginning to look a lot like a green Christmas here in Buffalo and nobody’s complaining. Not after last December’s blizzard. My husband and I were lucky. We were home, [...]
Elizabeth Licata
Dreaming of a Christmas conservatory
There are centuries of historic reasons - most of them religious - why people drag evergreen trees into their homes at this time, but for me, it boils down to [...]
Toughing it out in the indoor garden
In late fall, dire decisions have to be made that mean certain death for some plants, possible extended life for others and assured survival for a treasured few. As I [...]
Urban gardening writ large
During a recent trip to New York, one blessed with - seemingly - the last glorious fall day of the year, we made our usual pilgrimage to the High Line. [...]
Almost anything is better than mums
It was the end of the tour. We had seen magnificent fall foliage throughout the Niagara Falls area, including near the cataract itself, on Goat Island, along the gorge at [...]
I leave everything but the leaves
It’s a time for many gardeners when, despite our best efforts and wildest hopes, everything is winding down. During the coming weekends - the only time I have to work [...]
Kudzu – not the evil creeper we thought it was?
Smithsonian, you’ve done it again. I usually find the best articles about plants and gardening in publications that do not restrict themselves to gardening content. This one is from September, [...]
Late September gardens that are anything but dull
What does a great September garden look like? I received multiple, resoundingly convincing answers to that question last weekend. You might call them definitive. The annual garden bloggers/grammers/tubers get-together was [...]
Winter interest? I can’t even try for fall interest.
This year’s Fling - a yearly get-together for garden bloggers, grammers and tubers - is the first to take place during the fall, from September 21 - 24. Or close [...]
Enlightened municipal food scrap pick-up is the way to go
Some of us just aren’t composters. Either we don’t have the space or we don’t have the time or we don’t have the inclination. I’d say all three of those [...]
A familiar voice speaks out on natives and pollinators
Well, look who’s thrown his famous hat in the ring of the often-contentious discussion around pollinators and native plants. It’s Friend of Rant Allan Armitage, the author of Herbacious Perennial [...]
Humble but pervasive road plants
On road trips, often it's the flowers blooming everywhere - by the side of the road, in untended lots, throughout otherwise unoccupied fields - that make the biggest impression, no [...]