As fall approaches each year, I’m determined to cut back on the number of tender bulbs I dig up for indoor storage. Fortunately, I always weaken as the season progresses, and I end up still digging canna rhizomes and dahlia tubers long after they should have been safely tucked away in the basement. But if[...]
When you’re choosing ingredients for a salad, lettuce is obviously one of the first things that comes to mind. And of course, the same is true when you’re choosing plants for foliage interest in your garden. Wait—you mean it isn’t? Well, it should be! There’s a lot to love about lettuce as an ornamental. The[...]
If you figure that kudzu ranks high as an unpopular plant, then can Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) be far behind? Well, sure enough, there’s a variegated version of this menace as well, and oh, it’s a beauty, with bold, bright yellow to creamy yellow veining over the usual green. I suppose it flowers, too, although[...]
July definitely isn’t one of my favorite months. It’s hot, and it’s humid. It’s bone dry, or else we get wicked thunderstorms. There are weeds, and leaf spots, and Japanese beetles. But, it’s not all bad: In fact, it’s prime time for grazing through the garden. Not being much of a cook, I’m a big[...]
I often say that I garden on 4 acres, but I suppose that’s not exactly true. The house, barn, and sheds take up some room, after all. And then there are the alpaca pastures, which are the closest thing I have to lawn. Together, that’s about an acre. Then there’s “the shrubbery,” which fills about[...]