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 [...]
Whether you like it or not, planning what you’re planting in the season ahead is less important than figuring out what you’ll be planting it in. Soil matters, and can spell the difference between healthy, beautiful plants that resist the malevolent forces of Mother Nature, or weak, pest-infested plants that you have to stop yourself [...]
I’ve got better priorities. Granted, this is a pretty gutsy thing to say as a garden columnist, but before you revoke my license, let me tell you exactly why I think it’s critical to share this with you. I try very hard to live what I write. That is, if I spend an [...]
My mother has seed packets that are older than I am. Frugality plays a role here I am sure, but nostalgia is probably at the heart of it. I still keep a somewhat crumpled Martha Stewart packet, long emptied of its thyme seeds, just to remind me of how high-end marketing and softly lit photos [...]
This week, five tips for beginner gardeners just starting to plan their spring gardens. Tip #1. Keep it small Whatever else I try to do in this column, my overriding goal is to encourage more life-long gardeners, and nothing makes a person feel more inadequate and exhausted than biting off more than they can [...]
Many activities we perform in this life (and which others might never consider) are undertaken simply because we saw them modeled for us as children or young adults. Exposure to these skills helped us understand that they were far from magical, and that we were most likely capable of doing them ourselves at some point. [...]
Well, that’s December over with. I say this with a great deal of regret, as December is my resting month in the garden and it is always too short. Last night I happened across a differing opinion in an early essay* by British celebrity gardener and writer Monty Don. He sharpened his tongue against the [...]
It's over. Most people in the country are doing one of four things right now. ① Breathing a sigh of relief. ② Wondering where December went. ③ Feeling a bit nostalgic and determined to keep the spirit of the season going. ④ Grinning at the fact that they don't have a mess to clean [...]
Perhaps you’ve heard that approximately 2 ½ hours north of Central Maryland there is a world-class garden where fireworks and fountains explode every summer, horticultural splendor is commonplace and inspiration for the common gardener is calf-deep. A place called Longwood. A magical feast in The Music Room And perhaps you’ve ignored [...]
‘Tis the season for giving, and once this season ‘tis over, another one ‘tis right around the corner. So this morning it occurs to me to discuss for a minute the perfect pairing of plants and gift giving. Is it actually perfect? Before you answer however, I’d like to ask you a few more [...]
Many long time readers don't need an introduction to Mungo, our well-loved Jack Russell who is my constant companion in the garden. Every garden should have a garden dog, and if you're a cat person instead, every garden should have a garden cat. We've got both (well, several when it comes to cats) and [...]
December first and I’m just as shocked as you are by how quickly it got here. However, as I was sunning myself on foreign beaches last December, quaffing numerous rum punches, and feeling a bit confused by having them handed to me by Santa-clad Rastafarians in flip-flops, I intend to embrace the cold, the brown, [...]
Whether we have fully accepted it or not, the holiday season officially kicks off the day after Thanksgiving. You may reject the idea of Big Box lines at 2am for unnecessary gadgets and must-have technology (I do), but – completely against your will – you may also find yourself getting just a little excited at [...]
Well, it certainly feels as if we’ve thwarted the groundhog. Yet I have thought this many times during my life on the East Coast and ended up with two inch green stubs to harvest for an evening’s Caesar salad. Winter will bite back before it is all done, and neither we nor our plants will [...]
