RECENT POSTS
The Cloistered Garden
I began dreaming of a walled sanctuary soon after I began gardening in the 1970s. I wondered what it would be like to live...
The garden is never closed
Nor, to a great extent, is the outdoors. As the menu of possible activities narrows exponentially—for New York this means no bars, restaurants, gatherings,...
These “Inspiring” Gardens are Hilarious
For some tension-releasing laughs (I'm getting tired of funny animal videos myself), I'm sharing some truly ridiculous gardens I found on a bogus gardening...
Good Plant, Bad Plant, Native and Non-Native. Is it That Simple?
Guest Rant by Roy Diblik
Every planting situation creates diverse opportunities – not just for how it can be planted, but for how each of...
Salvador Dalí: Gardens of the Mind
I visited the beautiful 15-acre Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, last month. The Living Museum was tricked out like an Easter egg...
What does “Rural Metro DC Area” even mean?
The latest in the on-going correspondence between Marianne Willburn and Scott Beuerlein.
6 March 2020
Lovettsville, VA
Dear Scott,
I am grateful to digital correspondence in that I...
Preaching among the choir
If one more person asks me if I have heard of or read books by Doug Tallamy, I’ll ….
Well, I guess I won't really...
A Gardener’s View of Pandemics
As a compulsive gardener, I’ve been accused of viewing everything through the context of plants. Still, in trying to understand the looming coronavirus pandemic,...
Replacing the Hated Arborvitaes with Crossvine
When I wrote last September that "I hate my arborvitaes" because several of them DIED during a drought (they're not as drought-tolerant as I...
Postcard from Florida
Rose and I left our garden behind last week to go shelling and birding on Sanibel, Captiva and Cayo Costa. We follow a routine,...
Mad for Madison
We’re not exactly known as “fly-over” states, but some of us in the Great Lakes area have to try harder to convince out-of-towners we’re cool. It shouldn’t be necessary. Thanks...
The Wife, The Flu, and the Ecstacy of Entering a Gardening Dream State
Cincinnati, Ohio
January 23, 2020
Dear Marianne,
What a treat it was to receive your letter dated January 22nd. And so publicly too! What fun.
Despite myself, I...
What’s Less Hassle than Starting a Garden Club?
The obvious answer is that NOT starting a garden club is less hassle than starting one, but my local gardening friends and I want...
The Winners Are Only on the Garden Rant
The I-Must-Have-This-Plant contest, that was begun a week ago, has been a huge success. There was not one clinker among 11 entries.
i asked my...
Marketing to gardening ignorance
Beginning gardeners in the US are the focus of a variety of persuasive techniques. Last April, I posted about how dubious websites and silly...
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