Dr. Ronald Stanley was a fledgling dermatologist when he and his new wife, Cheryl, built a house in 1979 on five acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. At first, Stanley focused on a rather large and innovative vegetable garden that was good enough to be featured on PBS’ Victory […]
Weeds rank high on most gardeners’ list of landscape vexations, but that’s one problem that’s never bothered me too much. For one thing, my strategy of planting real plants wall-to-wall and mulching the limited or temporary openings doesn’t leave much room for weeds to get started. Plus, I’ve never minded going on […]
There’s a place on this planet where the soil is rich and well-drained, where temperatures sit in the pleasant 70s all year, where the sun shines day after day, and best of all, where deer don’t tread. This gardener’s heaven is the Portuguese island of Madeira, a volcanic blip in the Atlantic Ocean […]
How could this be? After one of our warmest winters ever – including a January that was nearly 9 degrees warmer than average and a February that averaged 7.3 degrees above normal – my landscape looked like it had been to Alaska and back. Most of my variegated boxwoods were the color […]
I wish I could say that my experiment growing 955 spring bulbs of 16 kinds has been a rousing success, carpeting my yard with vibrant color at a time when most everything else is just waking up. But three years after planting, only four of my bulb groupings put on a good show […]
Since few of you likely made it to Pittsburgh to see Phipps Conservatory’s 2023 spring flower show, I thought I’d share a few photos of it this week. Phipps Conservatory, if you’ve never seen it, is a 14-room Lord and Burnham Victorian glasshouse that dates to 1893. It’s filled with changing exhibits of […]
This is the time of year when gardeners get outside to grapple with plants that are growing beyond their intended space – or growing where they aren’t wanted at all. But since gardeners tend to be kind, benevolent, and nurturing souls, they often have a hard time digging and tossing these “surplus” plants. […]
One of the best ways to learn gardening is to try a few educated experiments and see what happens. You can’t beat it for first-hand feedback and for determining whether generally accepted advice is going to work in your yard or not. I’ve been doing that for more than 40 years now […]
Why wing it with your plant selection when you can weigh the word of experts who know the difference among the good, the bad, and the so-so’s? Each year, organizations of growers, horticulturists, researchers, and other plant experts bestow awards on what they consider to be the top plant performers – some new, […]
Traipsing through the winter landscape one day, it occurred to me that some plants are actually better looking with their leaves off. Whether it’s bright color on the stems or just interesting branching habits that are much more visible in winter, some plants are at their best naked. The poster child of […]