THE LAST OF THE FEMALE HUMMINGBIRDS have just departed for points south, following the males who left well ahead of time as if to set up camp. But onward bloom three of my favorite hummingbird plants, three red-flowered salvias I always include in the garden somewhere, year to year. Meet Salvia van houttii, Salvia coccinea ‘Lady in Red’ and the gold-leaf pineapple sage, Salvia elegans ‘Aurea,’ sometimes marketed as ‘Golden Delicious.’ [read more…]
annuals & perennials
What's an annual? Well, anything you use seasonally for "color" or drama, whether it's technically an annual or not. Find my favorites here, along with the perennials I rely on in my 25-year-old garden.
3 favorite salvias, all of them (screaming) red
October 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm
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colocasia ‘mojito:’ keeping our love alive in winter
September 23, 2011 at 11:25 am
IFELL IN LOVE AGAIN, AND I WANT IT TO LAST. The latest object of my affection: a variegated elephant ears called Colocasia esculenta ‘Mojito’ that I adopted this spring at a local garden center, despite the fact that he was no cheap date. I fear the coming winter may be the end of us, though—he’s Zone 7B, and I’m a mere 5B. How can we keep our love—and this spectacular plant—alive? I sought counsel from the most experienced person I could think of, in the hopes of doing just that. [read more…]
using coleus ‘spitfire’ as container-design glue
July 11, 2011 at 11:08 am
IFALL IN AND OUT OF LOVE WITH COLEUS (which not so many years back changed its botanical name to Solenostemon scutellarioides, not surprisingly prompting one of our estrangements). This season, I’m back in love, largely thanks to a recent introduction called ‘Spitfire’ that’s just what a gardener who loves hot-colored annuals needs to tie the picture together. [read more…]
new! slideshow of my 54 top shade plants
June 28, 2011 at 12:01 am
SHADE IS A TRICKSTER, CAPTURING AND RELINQUISHING territory as years pass and woody plants grow—or are damaged or lost. Twenty-five years into gardening on one site, some former “shade gardens” here now bake, and even more spots that were sunny—well, you get the changeable, unpredictable picture. Thankfully, for the latter areas, I have old clumps of lower-light plants to divide, including those in this new slideshow of my top 54 shade subjects. I included some woodland-garden shrubs and trees for those seeking to manufacture some shade of their own—or wanting to add more understory structure to what nature has provided. [read more…]
5 things you must read while i savage my garden
June 13, 2011 at 12:26 pm
IN THAT MOST COUNTER-INTUITIVE OF GARDEN MOMENTS, it’s time to make things that were just very pretty look like hell, and to plant more of the same vegetables you may not even have harvested your first crop of. I know, crazy. But here’s the scoop, in five things you must read (and do) while I’m outside brutalizing my poor garden in the name of the greater good. Feeling brave? [read more…]
‘papaya’ petunia plus: updated annual slideshow
May 25, 2011 at 8:36 am
ME? I STICK TO MY STORY: CONSISTENCY! So here it is, time once again for planting up pots, but I’m stuck on my same color theme–hot, hot, hot. I’m working with an expanded palette of sunny-colored annuals gathered at the garden centers, including a very sexy new-ish petunia called ‘Potunia Papaya,’ from German breeder Dummen-Red Fox, above. Forgive its rain-splattered blossoms, and other still-in-their-flats snapshots that I added to the show in these “before” shots. Bring on the heat and some sunshine, and they will grow. [read more…]
blooming in my garden: may 2, 2011 slideshow
May 2, 2011 at 2:19 pm
THE MOST COLORFUL CREATURES HERE as April turns to May: returning male birds in mating plumage. The last week included the arrival of rose-breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles…but I am straying, as the point is plants, right? Oops. A look at what’s blooming (including Uvularia grandiflora, above), the second in a series of new slideshows during this busiest of changing garden times. [read more…]
let there be hellebores!
April 13, 2011 at 2:09 pm
I ALWAYS START TO FEEL BETTER, like we’re turning a corner, when the hybrids of Helleborus orientalis jump all the way up out of the ground and start showing off. After a couple of weeks of timid semi-bloom, with the flowers hugging close to the ground on unextended stalks as if in fear of assault by lingering winter blasts, here they finally come. More on these favorite plants, including a podcast: [read more…]
dreaming of: lathyrus vernus, the spring vetchling
March 9, 2011 at 10:46 am
IFEEL ENTITLED TO ANOTHER ROUND OF MAKE-BELIEVE, since the tenacious winter dared to deliver yet another ice storm this week, just when I had spied an entire square foot of soil and thought we’d turned a corner. This time, the stuff that dreams are made of: I’m imagining the vivid blooms of Lathyrus vernus, the spring vetchling, bouncing on their wiry stems in a sunny spring garden. Want to pretend along with me that brighter days are already upon us? This plant profile of one of my favorite little perennials promises to help.
