This morning I woke up and looked out the window to see five deer exiting my neighbor’s yard for a foray into the gardens across the street. My first thought was that the deer looked rather well-fed, probably as the result of dining on plants in my garden. I raced outside to take inventory of … Read more
I went to Chincoteague Island, Virginia, last week to relax for a few days and see the wild horses made famous in author Marguerite Henry’s 1947 book Misty of Chincoteague. I caught sight of some of the horses, along with a wide variety of shore birds, wildflowers and gorgeous ocean scenery. It was inspiring and … Read more
Onion grass is rearing its slender, onion-scented head right now, heralding the longer days and warmer temperatures of spring. It is one of the seasonal scourges of lawn-proud suburbanites, not to mention dedicated gardeners. If you saw a clump of onion grass that had been dug up and cleaned, you might mistake it for a … Read more
The poet Robert Browning wrote, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” I am not sure about the “should”, but I do know that for most gardeners, “reach”—our visions and aspirations for the garden—will almost always exceed our “grasp”, which is what is actually attainable. This is never truer than in spring, when everything alive … Read more
The daffodil or narcissus season has well and truly started in my garden with the arrival of the single-flowered early bloomers. I always plant odd numbers of bulbs in large holes so the blooms emerge bouquet-fashion into the early spring sunshine. I have seen miniature daffodils pop out as early as the end of February … Read more
