T ODAY IS OPEN DAY AT A WAY TO GARDEN, THE FIRST THIS SEASON. It’s been a little hectic (understatement), but I’m as ready as I can get. In case you can’t make it, here’s a small peek at some of the goings-on. Enjoy your “walk” around. [Read more...]
doodle by andre: it’s amazing out there, no?
May 28, 2009
T HOUGH I HOPE MY FIGURE IS STILL A TAD BETTER THAN THIS GUY’S, despite all the dark chocolate and fig bars lately, he is definitely on to something: Miracles abound outside the window. Have you had a look today? Thanks, Andre Jordan, for the sweet reminder.
farewell, my princes: the big frogboy exodus
May 27, 2009
M Y FIVE BIGGEST HUNKS O’ BURNING BULLFROG have up and gone, the oldest boys out back who I was certain were Prime Prince Material. Sigh. Left me flat, during or just after a dramatic 2.75-inch rainfall recently, without so much as a farewell ribbit. And look at the mere pipsqueaks who have got hold of the larger pool since, which they’d never dare have gone near if the omnivore Big Boys were still around (and that’s a froggirl up top; not big and not even a boy!). What’s up with my frogs? Was it something I said? [Read more...]
my june garden chores
May 27, 2009
J UNE IS THE MONTH when the spring garden, all promise and freshness, fades to a picture of deadheads everywhere, and weeds really start testing us. We shall overcome! I’m offering the list a bit early this month, because I’ve had two bouts of heat that have put things off course a bit. Here’s where I begin in June or thereabouts (and probably never end, the usual story with the to-do list…but it makes me feel better having it, anyhow): [Read more...]
a plant i’d order: primula japonica
May 26, 2009
I’M ALWAYS SURPRISED BY HOW MANY CANDELABRA PRIMROSES there are by bloom time, because you never really know until just beforehand, when Primula japonica’s lettuce-like leaves seem to suddenly spread and stretch up and out from nowhere. Whoosh! This year, in the considerable shade of some old winterberry hollies and viburnums, I seem to have a positive infestation. Things could most definitely be worse than to be surrounded by these charming creatures. [Read more...]
let there be sweet potatoes: how to plant them
May 25, 2009
B ETWEEN A ROW OF CUTTING TULIPS AND ANOTHER OF ALLIUMS, on a mounded “ridge” of soil created for the purpose, the sweet potatoes were tucked in here a week ago. You have to love a seed or plant that comes in the mail complete with recipes: how optimistic, how confidence-inspiring. My box of “slips” included all the details on planting, sure, but also on making sweet-potato fries and sweet-potato pie, and I cannot wait. But there are probably just a few details to consider before I fire up the stove: [Read more...]
long-weekend rant: do you like to mow? (part 2)
May 22, 2009
(A reprise of a favorite post, perfect for summer’s official kickoff.)
I HAVE A LOVE-HATE THING GOING WITH MOWING: I always feel it’s a time-waster, but I am also always relieved there’s “mowing to be done” since that means legitimate escape from things like writing the book I have due. Mowing has immediate, tangible results; you cut grass blades, and they look cut. You try to write and, well, sometimes you don’t get any words. So tell me, do you like to mow? We’ve talked about this before, and instead of repeating myself I could have checked that you’re following the tomato-growing tips and using a rain gauge when you water and pruning your fading lilacs…or asked if you’re almost done with the May chores list. But it’s a holiday, so before I go out to you-know-what (also known as avoid writing), I’ll simply ask if you like to mow, and also say one more thing: My frogboys, all my innumerable sisters and I wish you a happy, healthy, safe, delicious long weekend, mowing or its avoidance notwithstanding.
doodle by andre: the plant wars
May 21, 2009
T HE BIG CHARITY PLANT SALE NEARBY, “the” event of the season, was last Saturday, and I admit it: I fell off the wagon a time or two. Nobody I adopted cost $50 or $200, hallelujah, but there were two $35 babies in the back seat on the ride home, rare gold-leaf forms of an Aralia I can’t live without and nobody sells but this one guy….oh, you know the story (read: excuse). But generally speaking, I think all plants are priceless (to use Mastercard’s phrase): mere marigolds or a never-before-recorded thing found on an exploration slightly below the top of Yu Shan, the highest peak in Taiwan. They all fascinate me, some so much that I occasionally lose all sense and self control. Anyone want to confess to me and doodler Andre Jordan their teeny little binges? Anybody in a she’s-gotta-have-it race to the death with a garden “friend,” perhaps? Do tell.
slideshow: springtime’s shrubs on parade
May 21, 2009
S HRUBS ARE THE PEOPLE-SIZED PART OF THE LANDSCAPE, the middle layer that you cannot make a garden without. If you go and skip the shrubs, the transition from tree to perennial is just too drastic, don’t you think? I tried to pick one kind to profile today—lilacs, perhaps, or twig dogwoods (both in the photo above and both treating me to a show at the moment) or maybe a viburnum?—but I failed to single anybody out. Instead, a tour of springtime’s shrubs so far at A Way to Garden, in words and pictures: [Read more...]
I WAS BLESSED TO visit many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as garden editor and then as editorial director. The places we published included my upstate New York home. Take a tour of 
