Orchid Love, An Origin Story
Walking into Dotty and Berry Woodson's greenhouse is like walking into heaven, but thankfully you don't have to perish to get there. You do need to make an appointment or [...]
Jenny Price Nelson, Guest Ranter
Thanksgiving and the Family Tree
Thanksgiving has arrived! The cool season annuals are finally going out. As I put them in their places, Charlie Brown tunes pop into my head. We're all feeling festive. Bill’s [...]
Garden Surfing: You Should Try It!
Remember the talking dog named Dug from the movie Up—the one that flips out when he sees a SQUIRREL? That’s me when I see plants. Plant obsession disorder, particularly a severe [...]
A Great Dixter Education
At Great Dixter in the golden light of a brilliant morning, three little boys traveled along the meadow path. A sweet summer mix of native grasses, yellow rattle, hawks bit [...]
On the Roof at Lurie Garden
If the powers that be at Chicago’s Millennium Park ever asked me to choose a theme song for Lurie Garden, I would suggest Up on the Roof, first performed by [...]
New Year’s Resolution: Kill Red Imported Fire Ants!
Red imported fire ants (RIFA) traumatize nearly every gardener they meet, but like Travis at the Alamo, “I shall never surrender or retreat.” Despite the unrelenting torture they dish out, [...]
Ode to the Green Anoles: Southern Bug Zappers
My latest Guest Rant is dedicated to America’s green anole lizards, the Rodney Dangerfield of beneficial predators. They’re cute. They eat bugs. They don’t bite people. And yet, compared [...]
Skin Cancer and My Summer Freeze Damage
With temperatures hovering at around a gazillion degrees, it seems strange to Rant about a small spot of freeze damage, a spot which is not on my plants, but on [...]
Let’s Aim Higher Than All Shrub Plantings
No more larking about in the comment zone for me—Susan Harris’s “Lowest-Maintenance Borders are All-Shrub” has called me out for a Guest Rant. Although I appreciate high quality shrub [...]