Florence 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 MoreOld Skills Make a Really Thick Hedge
Hedges can be just privacy screens. But they often have big gaps. Trained properly, they can be thick; thick enough to be more than a visual barrier. In old days (and in other countries today), hedges are living fences so they must be impenetrable thickets. Even though we’re not trying to keep the cows in…
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 MoreHow Do You Clean the Fuzz of Young Gourds?
Our friend Sue Ban taught us how to cook with gourds. I love this because yellow squash are so hard to grow without synthetic chemicals. And this is a more tasty but similar thing. One complication is that the young, tender gourds are fuzzy. And unlike peach fuzz, this fuzz is difficult to get off. …
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 MorePhlox for Parking Lots
Over the past few decades slow changes in the hort industry left old fashioned, home gardening in the shadows. Today, landscapers, growers and customers aim for new, lush and sexy plants, patios, turf and tools. As a friend once told me, “You garden designer types just like to tart things up. Don’tcha?” I was more…
Read MoreOpen Source vs. Proprietary Plants — Can People “Own” Plants?
Yes, they can, they do and they want to own even more. You can, but it’s complex and expensive. So mostly the people who own plants are huge agricultural companies. They control the plant– you’ve heard about this with genetic modification no doubt, but it sure happens in the flower world, too. It used to…
Read MoreMaking Soil Better with Mushrooms
When you dig up a plant, you get plant, roots and dirt. If you take that plant away, you leave a hole. In field nurseries or turf farms, we do that over and over and over and leave a big hole. Filling that hole can be a big problem. Buying top soil is expensive. It…
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