Standing barefoot in the field trying to click. The slick phone screen can’t feel my fingers through potting soil and worm parts.
Virus Prevention on a Lily Farm. It’s a Community Thing.
Imagine endless rows of fields of corn on a modern farm. Now let the rows turn into endless pink flowers. Sounds pretty right? On our little farm, which specializes in one type of lily, we could grow that way. But like the small farms that sustained and built this country, here, diversity is key. Diversity… Read More
Ghost in the Crinum Field —- A Massive Bulb Stimulates Weird Thoughts While the Garden Crew Works
I see things nobody else does. Snapshots, little fictional scenarios flash through my head. Does that happen to you? Today when we were digging the biggest of big bulbs, Crinum ‘Fiesta’, it happened. Leaning on shovels next to me, two nice fella’s who I thought would never have a black thought like the one I pushed… Read More
Axis Point A Story of Garden Design from Concept to Installation by Sam Thorp Engler
It all started with a new house and an empty yard. A clean slate if you will. A canvas that would soon prove to introduce a dream garden that ultimately ties this lonely brick home into a fluent mixture of architecture and landscape. A mid century-modern masterpiece. I have had the pleasure of working on… Read More
Country-style Cut Flowers — What? You’ve Never Heard of Chicken Feet Flowers?
A cut flower stem that last for weeks without water.
25 Years Ago Riverbanks Botanical Garden Opened — I Was Mad in the Photo!
Which mean 27 years ago, I left my adopted home of Seattle to move back to Columbia, South Carolina. It was culture shock to be sure! Columbia was still pretty much a small town with a lot of Bible Belt ways. An amazing group of people established a vision, political support to establish a new… Read More
Plectranthus fruticosus ‘Purple Martin’
Neon purple flowers for late summer through fall. I named this plant for horticulturist Jim Martin and of course for my favorite birds.
Stone Cold
I sat down at the bar at Hunter Gather alone. People talk there. One time, I was telling some guy a story. He stopped me mid story and said, “You’re that guy who gets up at 4:30 makes gardens all day, then eats lentils and goes to bed.” How do you respond to that? I… Read More
A Mist of Tiny Leaves and All the Greens of Spring
Call it acid green or April-fresh or lime jello fake. This time of year spring greens catch my eye and soul to remind me that life force is too strong to contain. Rye grass or dandelion leaves, those dreaded yellow-green catkins pushing out pollen, that powerful color fades as spring turns into summer. Heat makes… Read More
Southern Peat Bogs, Old Men and A New Farm Ethic
On a hot October Saturday, family had gathered to bury my youngest cousin. It was on the funeral home front porch that first cousin twice removed, Bill, started a conversation. Sitting in a rocking chair, a tiny plate of deviled eggs in his football player lap, I guessed he was about 75. He was almost… Read More