I recently came across an article in my wife’s The English Garden magazine (September 2023 edition) in which the author was regaling the many attributes of one of my favorite perennials, Persicaria amplexicaulis, or Fleece Flower as it is known more commonly.  Turns out that…

I enjoy growing my own veggies, but it certainly isn’t because it is cost effective!  The real reason we labor in our veggie gardens is because: (1) the crops we harvest are so much more flavorful…

There should be no question in anyone’s mind that September is a month of change in the garden, where the jubilant floral displays of summer give way to tired, gone-to-seed perennials and parched foliage starting to show us glimmers of fall colors.  Even with…

Here we are, the last week of August.  The summer season is coming to an end, the kids (if you have any) are going back to school, our veggie beds and flower containers are winding down (although my overwintered geraniums seem to be just reaching their stride), and our lawns are parched (unless like me […]

As we near the end of August it is becoming apparent in my garden that the fall season is fast approaching, despite the fact that as I write this (the week of August 14th) it is still very much summer with temps in the low 90’s.  Yes, it is still hot with lots of sunshine, […]

It’s funny how the meaning of some words can change over time.  In a garden setting, having a “diverse” collection of plants is generally a good thing.  One could say that the gardener embraces “diversity”.  Likewise, if that same gardener “includes” many different genera in the landscape, you could state that the gardener embraces “inclusivity”.  […]

If your garden is anything like mine, then you are probably busy watering, staking, checking for bugs and diseases, harvesting veggies and fruits and bouquets of flowers, and planting – at least those are the things that we all should be doing in August if we want to call ourselves gardeners.  I don’t think anyone […]

August can feel like a long time to wait for a some plants to finally put forth flowers, all while the rest of the garden might be blooming its head off.  On the other hand, by the time we get to August, our gardens can conceivably start to look kind of tired and bedraggled, and […]

We are moving into the later part of summer when all of the spring and early summer perennials have finished up and it is time for those mid to late summer bloomers to take front stage.  Keeping the show going in our gardens can be tricky, especially if we are prone to only do our […]

I am going to go out on a limb here and make a brash statement: “perfection in the garden is fleeting”.  Yes, it is sadly true… Earlier this spring I was congratulating myself on how nicely all of my many perennials (probably too many if I am honest with myself) were knitting themselves together and […]