Tiny Passion for Passiflora lutea

Tiny lime green flowers on this slender, summer growing perennial vine make me smile. Sure it’s kind of weedy. It scrambles over shrubs and comes everywhere around here. But it’s a lovely olive green leaf with silver mottling.  And it has a strong root system.  I don’t know how you’d get rid of it if…

Read More

The Earliest of Flower Gardens

There’s a patch of paper whites and snow drops in our pasture that’s older than I am. Just behind the little shed that’s been pony shed, goat shed and now donkey shed. Those are the kinds of bulbs I want in my gardens. From a practical stand point, because they come back, they thrive and…

Read More

Plants for Deep South Meadows

You know those meadows that you see in magazines?  The ones that beckon pick-nickers with knee high whispering grasses and painterly masses of wildflowers?  The kind of meadow you might skip through, roll in, take off your shirt and nap with your dog in? In the Deep South, we only have those in calendars and…

Read More

People Who Show Us The World

In 1938 Buzzy’s second grade teacher made his class listen to Wagner and walk through gardens of neighborhood ladies and gentlemen.   Some of the boys sneered.  Buzzy, always sensitive , pretty much shocked me when he said, “Once or twice, on the playground, I found the boys who laughed and interrupted and  I, (he whispers…

Read More

A Frank Conversation About Sustainability

If you still question whether people can change the earth and climate, then become a gardener.   You’ll find out how quickly you can screw up a living system and how long it takes to put it back right.    I love any book that stimulates me to think and write and question.   I love this…

Read More

Magic Carpets

In this garden in Augusta, Jefferson Hubble, amazing stone mason and friend in Columbia, SC made a magic carpet patio.        And behind that, a carpet of moss makes a brilliant lawn and contrast with the purple fence.

Read More