Lions And Tigers and Tropicals, Oh My!: A Letter to the Midwest
1 September 2022 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, September dawns and I am completely unprepared for the fact that I was hardly in my garden in August and therefore terribly behind. [...]
Marianne Willburn
Strategy and Self-Seeders: A Letter to The Midwest
July 30, 2022 Lovettsville, VA Dear Scott, I sense sarcasm in your last letter. Huge heavy wads of it if I’m not mistaken. The recrimination is deserved. You are correct, [...]
TLDR: Too Long Didn’t Read Culture makes idiots of us all – even gardeners.
3 minute, 22 second read. It’s difficult to chew and enjoy an aged, grass-fed steak when you’ve been living on a diet of McDonalds cheeseburgers – or a sautéed portobello [...]
New (and Old) Books for Urban and Rental Gardens
Once again, homeownership – and by extension, land ownership – is being pulled further out of reach from people with dreams of a large garden. The housing market has inflated [...]
Should We Have Moved to Seattle? This Gardener’s Heart Says Maybe.
Fresh from speaking to the Northwest Perennial Alliance’s Hardy Plant Study Weekend in Seattle, Washington last weekend, and seeing the greatest concentration of home gardens (and enthusiastic home gardeners) I [...]
Too Many Thoughts from An Airport: A Letter to The Midwest
June 9th, 2022 (for May 29th) Dear Scott, I am writing this from Heathrow Airport on the back of an exotic plant list from Dixter and will type it out [...]
Chickweed & Despair, Hope & Dixter: A Letter to The Midwest
Lovettsville, VA May 7, 2022 Dear Scott, As much as I hate to stress you out with yet another ambiguous deadline by immediately answering your letter, I find I have [...]
Ten Tips for Visiting Gardens with Non-Gardeners
In many places all over the country, the garden tour season is beckoning. If you’re a subscriber to this site you’ve most likely got your engines revving and already have [...]
I’m painting my fence black and I love it.
I could begin and end this post with its self-evident title, but there’s a little backstory for those who want something more than a declarative sentence. I’ll try and keep [...]
Carex Conundrums and Groupie Gripes: A Letter to The Midwest
Lovettsville, VA 20180 March 17, 2022 Dear Scott, I am glad we agree upon the many joys of Brunnera and Carex, if not the fact that you are clearly affable [...]
In A Troubled World, Is Gardening Trivial?
Thursday morning and my deadline looms. How many times can you type a sentence only to erase it? I’ve been working on a world record this week. What can be [...]
On Ads, Voices, and Building a GardenRant Community
A year has gone by since GardenRant celebrated our 15th anniversary by revamping our logo and site, adding new voices, and showcasing our Guest Ranters. Around that time, we also [...]