Remembering the Garden
One of the advantages of gardening in the Piedmont is that we gardeners can aim to have something in bloom almost 12 months a year – but this takes some planning…
garden
It’s Hard to Say Goodbye
It’s hard to penalize a plant that is flourishing in our gardens, but there comes a time when we decide there must be a parting of the ways. This old companion is no longer a friend….
Aging in Place in the Garden
When I was younger, my enthusiasm for my garden knew no limits. I happily filled in empty spaces, experimented with many different plants…
Good Fences Make Good Gardens
On a daily basis I bless my fence. When I first moved to Chapel Hill over one-quarter of a century ago, deer were not a problem in my neighborhood, one that borders downtown. I happily nourished…
Favorite Things – Part 2
After I compiled my list of “favorite things,” I realized that I had omitted several plants that I could not live without. All this is occurring during my annual garden appraisal. These plants demand little from me, an aspect I increasingly appreciate as I age. Long ago, in the midst…
The Problem with Shade
As gardens age, shady conditions take over. Where once you were gardening in full sun, you find now you are coping with shade….
Favorite Things
Periodic reassessment of the garden is a necessary gardening task. Gardens change over time – and so do gardeners. Our tastes become more varied, plants fizzle out….
The Wonders of Crapemyrtle
July is the month when my attention turns to crapemyrtles. These sun-loving trees manage to put forth a stream of long-lasting blooms, no matter how hot and humid the weather is. There is a lot of misunderstanding about the crapemyrtle…
Faster Isn’t Always Better
Plants send their children out into the world equipping them with wings or parachutes to catch a breeze, hooks and barbs to grab hold of passing critters or wrap them in tasty coatings to entice passers-by with a tempting treat. Wind, water…
Stop Digging
“Your garden’s so pretty! How do you do that?” my neighbor gushed. She: stylishly dressed, walking her dog; me: wet and muddy squatting down with my hands in the soil. I was about to explain that I enjoy tending my garden and that, with a little effort…
Echinacea Worth Meeting
Let me introduce my latest fascination — Echinacea x hybrida ‘Red Ombre.’ I know what you’re thinking: What could possibly be special about an Echinacea? Readers of this column may recall that I like to meet new plants by first learning their botanical name, so let’s start with the genus Echinacea…
Your Garden’s Supporting Cast
When I first began to garden, I was only interested in those plants that made a big statement, plants…
Think Contrast, Think Texture
We gardeners sometimes think way too much in terms of flowers when, perhaps, we should instead concentrate more on the color green. After all, it’s the color green that permanently resides in our gardens. I have written before about the…
Daisies: Surprisingly Complicated Flowers
Recently, I have been marveling over the complexities of the common daisy. Daisies belong to the family Asteraceae, a family that contains…
Responsible Gardening
A packet of seeds, meant to catch my eye, arrived in the mail. A seed company in a faraway state, trying to get my business, wants me to look at their catalog. Its strategy backfired. I’m not happy with the little gift; in fact, I’m rather huffy about it. The colorful packet featured a watercolor image of several different unidentifiable….
What Makes a Great Plant?
As any gardener will tell you, there are lots of good plants out there but few truly great plants. This got me thinking: What makes a plant great? Bob Solberg, hybridizer extraordinaire of hostas and owner of Green Hill Hostas in Franklinton, wrote an article on great hostas…
Window Dressing
Have I mastered the art of planting containers or just gotten bored? I stalk the garden centers looking for inspiration, but my mind goes blank, so my containers end up looking pretty much the same as last season.
Climbing Versus Rambling Roses
During the height of the pandemic, because there was little else to ponder, I began wondering what distinguishes rambling roses from climbing roses…
A Plea for Contrast
In April I attended a Zoom presentation on plant diversity led by Tony Avent of Plant Delights fame. This old dog learned some new tricks — and I suddenly understood what I had done right in my garden and what I had done wrong.
Rethinking the Rose Garden
The horticulturalists at Sarah P. Duke Gardens are busy redesigning the rose garden, one they had completely overhauled just five years ago. Ten years ago, the garden…
Botanizing Finds: The Fascinating Bloodroot
I do my botanizing while walking our dog. Puppy isn’t very patient, so I have to be quick about it, but I regularly manage to find interesting plants…
What on Earth Did I Order?
In the delirium of winter, I tend to go on an ordering spree of plants that will arrive the following April. It’s a good time to order because the nurseries haven’t yet run out of the hot new plants; the winter garden looks relatively bare; and there’s nothing much to do in January…
Beware of Some Pass-Along Plants
Last week I extolled the virtues of the Southern tradition of pass-along plants. Sometimes the only way to acquire a plant that is no longer at the…
Pass-along Plants: A Great Southern Tradition
Gardeners are among the most generous people in the world, eager to share their success with other plant lovers.
Beware of the Floozies
Sex is rampant in my garden, and I’m getting sick of it. This is the time of year that the hellebores wave around their promiscuity as the plants flaunt their swollen seedpods. Soon you begin to realize that there are probably more seeds on one hellebore than there are people in the Triangle. After a couple of years of hellebores taking up residence in the garden, you begin to fear that they will overtake the world.
Spring Garden Safety
It’s a dangerous world out there. In the past few weeks, Kit and I have both been injured — nothing life threatening, but ego bruising. I share this because we both know better.
Echinacea
I wish I could grow echinacea as I’m a great admirer of this native prairie plant. It’s a great accent plant in the perennial border, and there’s a spartan quality about it that appeals to me.
Start With Your Soil
Right now, it’s all about the plants. We’ve sat inside long enough reading catalogs and cleaning our tools. Our fabulous friends are arriving at nearby garden centers, and we can’t wait to bring them home. But wait.
Back to Basics: The Need for Well-Draining Soil
This past winter, I began to think that it would never stop raining. Now, rain can be a gardener’s best friend, but a rainy winter can ruin a garden. How can that be? After all, aren’t many of our plants sound asleep in winter?
How to Order Sustainable Roses
As far as I am concerned, when it comes to roses, planting sustainable roses is the way to go. Do you really want to put on the zoot suits while lugging out the sprayer every 10 days just to prevent fragile roses from falling into the ravages of blackspot?
Garden Shopping Made Easier
I am happily shopping for plants. To my husband’s chagrin, our kitchen table is littered with lists, dog-eared catalogs and old annotated seed packets. But I may just sweep the mess aside in favor of my new discovery. The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service has a new online tool…
Have the Courage of Your Gardening Convictions
A long time ago I mentioned to a rather snobbish gardening friend that I was thinking of planting some gladioli — and met with a withering response that, “No one plants gladioli anymore.”
Hostas: Plants to Enjoy
I love hostas — it really is that simple. I love the many varieties of hostas, extending from blue hostas to ones with red stems. The variation of their leaves, ranging from different shapes to different color patterns, enchant me.
Gifts for Gardening Sweethearts
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and finding the right present for a gardener can be frustrating as we gardeners are an opinionated group…
Good Time for Native Plant Seeds
Usually, winter’s confinement gives me time to ponder my coming garden. I flip through the arriving seed catalogs, marking pages while revising my shopping list at a leisurely pace.
The Wonders and Perils of Daphne
Sometimes I think that daphnes take all the fun out of gardening. There can hardly be a gardener alive who hasn’t lusted in his or her heart for a Daphne odora in the middle of winter. The luscious blooms coupled with a delicious scent manage to enchant us during the month of January.
The Maturing Garden
Generally, from a gardening standpoint, I enjoy the month of January. Typically, I peruse the garden catalogues that arrive this time of year, daydreaming about the possibilities my garden might produce. However, reading the garden catalogues recently has not given me a great deal of enjoyment for the simple reason that my garden, like me, is maturing.
A Garden Needs a Soul
It’s a new year, 2021, and it’s time to plan for the garden. Spring is almost here! I have written about this topic before but it bears repeating as I see gardeners twisting themselves in knots, trying to follow the rules of good landscaping: A garden needs to reflect the personality of its owner.
Doing Something About the Weather
Before we write off 2020 as a year to forget, I’d like to point out that it was a pretty good year for North Carolina gardeners.
Soil for Christmas
We have a tradition in our house. My husband asks what I want for Christmas. I reply, “a load of well-rotted manure for my garden beds.” He rolls his eyes. Gardeners know it’s all about the soil. Sure, the plants are pretty, the rock walls sublime…