My garden will never be perfect. I know that. And sometimes that makes it hard to relax in. I’ll sit down and try to enjoy being outdoors, but instead I’ll catch myself scanning around for things to add to my mental “want-to-do” list. For my own sanity, there are times when I need to ignore [&]
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on July 5, 2016 at 11:51 pm&&&This post has .
Friends of Rant
By: 27 Aug
pmI’m all for celebrating insect life in the garden, except when it’s something like this: My son enjoys jumping past these azalea bushes in our. [&] By: 9 Jun
pmI recently visited a private garden near Frederick, Maryland called High Glen.
I would link to it, but at the moment it does not have a website (tho. [&] By: 21 Apr
pmA few images from last weekend’s visit to the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C.
Now, you can Buffalo your garden. That’s what I am hearing from a group of gardeners in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. Here is what Eric S. emailed me a couple days ago: I’m part of an active gardening community in a section of Philadelphia called Mt. Airy....
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on June 7, 2016 at 8:08 am&&&This post has .
On a recent visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens, I was almost as impressed by the thoughtful sculpture installations throughout the grounds as I was by the plantings (which are lovely). The DBG has a distinguished partner in this art project: Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center has placed modern and...
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on May 26, 2016 at 10:07 am&&&This post has .
Contest Closed! & “Plant the Seeds, Frame the Art!” When Ken Greene founded the Hudson Valley Seed Library a dozen years ago at the Gardiner (NY) Library, it was the first seed library hosted by any public library in the United States. The concept was that patrons could borrow...
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on February 1, 2016 at 7:58 am&&&This post has .
& There is an abandoned fencerow on our Salvisa, Kentucky, farm. It’s marked clearly. A dozen black walnut trees Juglans nigra grow in a straight line, running up a small hill toward the rising sun. A generation ago, squirrels stored thousands of walnuts and forgot about them. The trees,...
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on December 23, 2015 at 8:36 am&&&This post has .
Just stop by one of Jenny Kendler’s seed stations, located at strategic spots on Buffalo’s East Side, as well as other Western New York locations, and grab a pack of seeds. The project, titled Rewilding New York, is intended to reintroduce native plants to the urban center, providing sustenance...
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on August 11, 2015 at 8:53 am&&&This post has .
Recently I came across this article about the fairly new practice of stacking rocks in wild places. Historically, cairns (rocks piled or stacked by humans) have served important purposes, particularly in parts of the world lacking dramatic natural features to use as landmarks. A cairn might mark a trail,...
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on July 15, 2015 at 4:00 am&&&This post has .
Among all the many seed distribution strategies I’ve seen discussed or proposed, this one is both simple and beautiful. Jenny Kendler’s Milkweed Dispersal Balloons project consists of a mobile unit towing a flotilla of balloons filled with milkweed seed. As the artist says on her website: The artist and...
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on May 26, 2015 at 8:10 am&&&This post has .
After a few swipes on Aunt Polly’s plank fence, Tom Sawyer
tired of painting whitewash. So it doesn’t surprise me that there’s no hint, in Mark Twain’s novel, that Tom took a paintbrush to tree trunks. I have been intrigued with this peculiar cultural phenomenon since I was Tom...
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on March 11, 2015 at 7:43 am&&&This post has .
& Holy Sissinghurst, Batman!!! There is a way of making gardens that I feel has run its course. It has reached its zenith, its apex, its apotheosis. It can go no further. It has gone far enough. Too far. I speak of the Outdoor Room. Let me be clear....
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on January 28, 2015 at 10:33 am&&&This post has .
A new memorial opened last month in D.C., this one honoring Veterans Disabled for Life. I’ve watched its progress from the U.S. Botanic Gardens across the street, and seen it presented to a reviewing agency, so was excited to finally see it open. Here’s a fun 2-minute video of...
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on November 13, 2014 at 8:52 pm&&&This post has .
For just this month a 6-acre strip of lawn on the National Mall has been turned into a portrait in sand and dirt by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada called “Out of Many, One.” Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, it’s a composite of many ethnic groups, a generic face of Americans. About...
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on October 16, 2014 at 8:32 pm&&&This post has .
Wandering around Pittsburgh I came upon this fabulous mural depicting cherry blossoms in bloom and a charming collection of old homes.
It was off the beaten track, enlivening not a park but the parking lot for a neighborhood restaurant. How does something so wonderful get done, anyway?
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on September 4, 2014 at 4:57 pm&&&This post has .
This year’s international Park(ing) Day falls on September 19, a mere two weeks from now. On that day, individuals, groups, and businesses in cities around the world will commandeer on-street parking spaces and convert them to temporary parklets. These people-friendly spaces might include plants, seating, bike parking, games, exercise...
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on September 3, 2014 at 3:08 am&&&This post has .
From my recent stay in Pittsburgh I’ve shown you Randyland, which writer/adventurers Susan Reimer,
Ginny Smith,
Carrie Engel and I stumbled upon while playing hooky from hotel conference rooms. We were on our way to another destination,
installation-art gallery the Mattress Factory, which had been called a “must-see” by keynote speaker...
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on September 2, 2014 at 3:03 pm&&&This post has .
Is a particular plant a weed? Is a garden a work of art? And who gets to decide? If you’ve read our recent rantings, you’ve likely noticed these questions do not have simple answers. The answers vary, depending on the gardener. Many gardeners (like me) learn their land slowly....
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on July 2, 2014 at 3:09 am&&&This post has .
The Royal Hort Society is holding a debate I’d love to hear.
The topic is: “Are Gardens Art?” and get a load of the line-up of debaters — a critic, a designer, a plantsperson and a philosopher: Andrew Wilson (Chair of the debate panel) – Award winning Garden Designer,...
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on June 17, 2014 at 1:40 pm&&&This post has .
For decades,Washingtonians have known about a Marc Chagall mosaic in the back garden of a private residence in Georgetown and have strained to see mere glimpses of it from over the garden wall. Homeowner Evelyn Nef and her husband had been great friends with the Chagalls, who spent summers...
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on May 23, 2014 at 8:21 am&&&This post has .
Just in time for local wildflower season (finally), the Burchfield Penney Art Museum is mounting a show of Charles Burchfield’s early botanical drawings. Along with them, they have the models made by another artist, Paul Marchand, who specialized in dioramas and other 3D displays for the local science museum’s...
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on May 6, 2014 at 7:07 am&&&This post has .
We are what we eat, right? What we wear says a lot about us, doesn’t it? Basically, everything we put out into the world says something about who we are, and people are reading those cues all of the time. So during this holiday season, I did a thing...
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on December 27, 2013 at 5:23 pm&&&This post has .
Guest Rant
is good for you
is good for you
Convinced that gardening MATTERS.
Bored with
In love with the real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens.
Suspicious of the "horticultural industry."
Delighted by people with a passion for plants.
Appalled by chemical warfarein the garden
Turned off by any activities that involve "landscaping" with
"plant materials."
Flabbergasted at the idea of a "no maintenance garden."
hell of a lot
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