Daffodils Die Big, Dumb, Dramatic, B-Grade, Silent Movie Deaths: Worth it?
And right then, before I can forget, I find my calendar app, scroll to some random date in August, and type, "Order more daffs."
Scott Beuerlein
Horticulture in Harmony? Here’s Hoping
But more plants everywhere is the only easy answer here. Which ones where is more nuanced and there will always be room for tweaking and constructive debate.
Ode to the Lovely Pasque Flower on Easter Day. But Wait, The World’s Only Pulsatilla Joke Included!
Therefore, I call all of them by the one common name I know--Pasque flower.
Thoughts On the California Spring Trials; (It’s a Strangely Complex and Beautiful Business)
But the industry has been around a long, long time. Uninterrupted really. Impulse buys and discretionary spending, I suppose, but people seem to really want and need beautiful plants in their lives.
Giving Yourself and The Garden a Little Grace on a Beautiful Early Spring Day
There are things you've done right out there. Enjoy them. Sure, they were--in years past--probably done late, in haste, and at the expense of an enjoyable garden experience, but we can't keep banking gardening joy for some far off time. Spend some of it today.
Pre-Spring Whirlwind: A Letter From The Midwest
Spring is just around the corner and will spring into its manic business faster than a mouse trap. There's never enough time to observe it. As always, I will just try to buckle up and enjoy what I can of it as I'm hauled variously across it as my own trajectory wobbles like a bottle rocket.
Too Big and Important For Homeowners to Fail
How do you calculate the value large trees bring to homes? How do we tally the annual unnecessary loss of such trees caused by irrational fears?
Compromising on Compromise? Never!: A Letter from the Midwest
So, there I was, rushing around, randomly augering holes right and left and compromising like a son of a bitch. Little thought for siting. No memory for whatever poor, dormant plants I was augering into. Just get ‘em in the ground no matter what.
Voices in My Garage (My Tools Are Plotting Against Me)
Hard Rake: "Tines down when I fall off the rack. Tines up when I'm laying on the ground. If he thinks I'm his friend, he's got another big knot on his forehead coming!"
The Silver, Gold, and Russets of the Season; A Letter from the Midwest
I'll try harder to greet each morning with a death grip on the positive. I long to feel the clompy green, gold, yellow, brown sweetbay leaves kiss me awake.
Crazy About Carpinus
In truth, there's not a lot of difference between the 20 or so hornbeam species, so collecting them might have been a little crazy. Still, I’m glad I did. They're all really nice trees. I've got specimens scattered around the yard and I've given several away to friends who are now in my debt and, because of that, try their best to overlook the awful things I routinely say and do when I'm around them. One thing I'll say about hornbeams that I can't say about most of my friends, they look wonderful from a distance and even better up close.
Dry and Colorful – A Letter from the Midwest
Thus, years and years of collecting has steadily been undone by an almost equal number of years de-collecting. It was hard at first, got easier over time, and now I remove an ugly plant with a strange grin on my face. It’s a god-like power I wield maniacally.