Lessons About Plants & Gardens
Wet May Morning on the Lily Farm
Momma’s garden featured in Minneapolis Star Tribune!
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She Rooted All These Antique Roses
If you’ve met my Mother, you know she has a green thumb and a tender heart. Just days ago, we were working in the garden so briskly, that she decided not to stop to go to church. I took a picture of the roses below in her hand. I’m writing/editing this while she’s in the…
Read MoreParking Gardens; Plants That That Fry & Flood
I was talking to this guy the other day, a great landscaper, who tries to be earth friendly, and he says he just doesn’t do jobs without an irrigation system. “There’s just no way you can plant it and guarantee it will live.” Well, I can. Here’s a link to a garden where we had…
Read MorePass-along Garden Design Terms
Some of the jargon in the garden world is like nails on a chalkboard to me. “Plant-material” comes to mind. Come on. They are plants. Just plants. Why add the hyphen? Why denigrate living, marvelous, moving beings to construction and commodity terms? But I love learning old terms, elegant, flowing words that perfectly express a…
Read MoreStone Artistry as the Garden Floor
Nothing like watching a master of his artwork. I get to orchestrate and feel the energy of carpenters, masons, metal smiths on projects all working toward a shared goal– garden making. Watching can be mesmerizing. Do you know the phrase, “the eroticism of competence”? Those on a mission to make, to create, have the energy. …
Read MoreProtected: Early Pictures of Moore Farm
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Read MoreFrog Eyes & Sand Pears
I’m bracing myself for a cold, wet day at Goodness Grows nursery. Plant shopping is fun until the day turns bad. But the show must go on as the next 4 days of planting depend on today’s shopping — wet feet and all. One plant on my list is Tradescantia; which I learned as spiderwort.…
Read MorePeckerwood!
Tom and I spent an amazing 24 hours with an old friend, John Fairey, outside of Houston. John’s been there, gardening in the same place since the early 70s, but he says he’s still a South Carolinian. He named his garden after the fictional Beauregard Plantation in Auntie Mame (or if he needs a sweeter…
Read MoreHow to Propagate Bamboo from Cuttings
How many things can you use bamboo for? If you live on a farm, eat Chinese food, walk on alternative floors, wear eco-friendly fabrics, then you know the list never ends. I know a bunch of native-plant-nazis are going to call me out on it, but in my new book, I promote proper bamboo planting.…
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