Stories About Gardening
Heart on the Farm
Since my book came out in April, I’ve been from Philadelphia to Jacksonville talking about it. I’ll continue this winter west to Saint Louis and New Orleans. But for a few weeks during the most beautiful part of South Carolina’s year, I get to do presentations and readings to my home state friends. And enjoy…
Read MoreGarden Visiting in the Upstate of South Carolina
After a few intense weeks with hands in the dirt, focused on getting new crinum planted and on getting lots of fall leaf crop and spring flower seeds in the ground, I took a little road trip up to the red hills, around Rock Hill, Great Falls, Jenkinsville and Charlotte. Here are 20 pics from…
Read MoreFlorence Bench & Bus Stop
Andy Adams, Jenn Summers and I get to make a 60 foot long, question mark shaped, poured concrete bench. It’s a project in honor of Mrs. Nancy Bratton, whom I’m told was a great gardener and a generous soul. We’re asked to include some impressions of plants in the vertical surface of the bench. Some…
Read MoreA New Job; Back to Building Public Gardens
I’m strengthening, building on my roots in botanical garden work by taking on a new job (more about it at the end of the post.) Those roots started with inspiration at Clemson University. Clemson Horticture wasn’t a huge leader in the field: we all knew NC State and UGA had more recognized programs. But I…
Read MoreIsaac’s Garden Design
(Isaac is our summer intern. He’s finished one year of a horticulture program at Spartanburg Technical College) Just before I set off for this wonderful internship, my mom told me that her friend Peggy would like for me to do a design for her. I was nearing the end of my design class, and I…
Read MoreDreams of Milk and Wine aka Crinum x herbertii
A friend visited last weekend. He woke up in the night and wrote this little poem: “Milk and Wine,” the old man said. “It’s all I drink these days. Clarity of purpose, strength of bone.” “A strange request,” the waiter said. “But noble, and will do.” And he went over to the bar, to pour…
Read MoreThey’re Like Southerners but with Funny Accents
We’ve been on some pretty exciting trips this summer. A flight to do a reading at the famed Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia included staying in a house that was recently featured in the New York Times. The road trip to lecture at the U.S. Botanical Garden ended with a tour of some extraordinary private gardens…
Read MoreSlick Photographer’s Trick
You know how guys are always looking to enhance perceptions of size. Gardeners, especially. An old photographer’s trick is to get a child or a small person to stand by some big plants. It makes them look bigger. That’s why I pal around with Buck– he’s a dwarf donkey, and he makes my crinum lilies…
Read MoreGardening as Art.
This is an excerpt from an article I wrote for a subscription, paper only magazine last year. The whole thing addressed in personal terms how gardening is art. This is a more succinct side bar…. It Is Art I can only speak for me. Garden design is sometimes industry, sometimes hobby, sometimes art. I engage…
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