A winter scene has been setting up all night as we slept, and as I write these words, the snow has covered all. I will save the poetry and soupy language for another time lest I send you all to sleep again, and instead concentrate on what you might want to do for your plants [...]
How should one weed in the winter? Those with a strong attachment to their recliners might say ‘one shouldn’t,’ and leave it at that. I completely understand. I have a strong bond with my yellow tufted chair that goes quite beyond love and is entering the realm of soul connection – particularly in the winter. [...]
I did a great deal of traveling this year touring gardens, attending conferences and visiting plant trials. I do not say this to inspire envy in those who enjoy living out of suitcases and drinking airport coffee, but to put it plainly that I was away from my garden during some pretty critical moments in [...]
The New Year is beckoning, and the human condition being what it is, the decorations that made your home festive and exciting a few short days ago can feel cluttered and cloying today. However, if you have begun eyeing up ornaments and frippery for boxes and trashbins, may I urge you to pause when your [...]
It's the weekend before Christmas, and even though you've tried to ignore it, the spirit is in the air and you have an itch to undertake one last decorating project: a natural wreath for the front door. Except...you've never really nailed the art of wreath making. 'Spindly' and 'amateurish' are words that figure prominently in [...]
Every year around this time, I get into a car with my husband and a couple friends and make the journey over hill and dale and White Marsh Shopping center to Longwood Gardens. The drive is a long one. But a day savoring A Longwood Christmas and the pleasures of conversation stimulated by thousands of [...]
December. Joy, Mirth, and seventeen other one word slogans on cotton dishtowels. Are you ready? We are sent out to achieve the impossible this month. In the midst of lives already conducted at 75 mph, and without any real vacation time, we are asked to do the following ten tasks with a smile [...]
Air plants are the new It Girl. From the common grocery store checkout aisle to the upscale garden center, they’re pretty much everywhere. They’re even turning up in the houses of your less-horticulturally inclined friends (which was probably your first clue that this particular plant trend isn’t just for those who know a hydrangea from [...]
By this point in the winter, most houseplants have endured months of sub-optimal conditions, not to mention sub-optimal care, and insect levels may be higher than we think. We’ve still got at least two months before these pots can safely hit Mid-Atlantic patios and decks for the summer season, and if we want to have [...]
Over the first half of this month I have been in California. Surely an insensitive way to start a column in a Mid-Atlantic newspaper, but I ask you to set aside your envy for a moment. There is both more and less to this statement than you might assume. Almond orchards a few [...]
