A Way To Garden

'horticultural how-to and woo-woo'
the source of organic gardening inspiration
margaret roach, head gardener

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Profile Topics Started Replies Created Engagements Favorites @margaret Profile Registered: 6 years, 8 months ago Forums Topics Started: 59 Replies [read more…]

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awaytogarden

mad gardener, nature addict, award-winning writer & podcaster, rural resident, corporate dropout, creator of awaytogarden dot com and matching book.

Sound the alarm....Euphorbia on 🔥🔥🔥. I lo

Sound the alarm....Euphorbia on 🔥🔥🔥. I love the spurges, and none more than this one: Euphorbia griffithii ‘Dixter,’ so-named for @greatdixterofficial (speaking of lovable best-in-class things). This one came to me 100 years ago (back when I pushed my wheelbarrow a little faster) from @danieljhinkley of the nursery that was at @heronswoodgrdn. It never fails to delight with all manner of coloration: reddish here and there in stems and leaf veins, the paler leaf undersides, and of course right now the crazy-ass orange “flowers” (which I think are technically bracts surrounding the cyathia, or some such...I am certain that “crazy-ass” is correct terminology, however). Rhizomatous and maybe 2 feet tall in semi-shade. And like all #euphorbia containing milky sap that can cause dermatitis in some people. Forewarned. #euphorbiagriffithiidixter #euphorbiagriffithii #awaytogarden

Memorial Day Parade: A 6-inch section of the 6-foo

Memorial Day Parade: A 6-inch section of the 6-foot-long event going on outside my window today, organized by members of the Formicidae. Such teamwork. #antsonparade #antsofinstagram #ants #awaytogarden #eusocial

My instructions about social distancing were met w

My instructions about social distancing were met with a deaf tympanum. #awaytogarden #froghumor #bullfrogs #amphibiansofinstagram

No, not a lobster tail. It’s a friend I usually

No, not a lobster tail. It’s a friend I usually only see each year around now when I move mulch and find this #millipede slumbering beneath. Apheloria virginiensis corrugata is less than 2 inches long unrolled, has no eyes to see but has gorgeous #aposematic coloration — warning colors — to say “don’t eat me or else” in case it is seen itself, by someone who might try. You know, like bees do or monarch butterflies, and in similarly bright colors and contrasting patterns. One of nature’s genius mechanisms of anti-predation. This millipede’s role? To process leaf litter and other detritus, a part of nature’s composting crew, for which I thank him. #awaytogarden #millipedes #millipedesofinstagram #apheloriavirginiensis #apheloriavirginiensiscorrugata #detritivore

We older human types sometimes kid that we are 29

We older human types sometimes kid that we are 29 (as in years old) but I’ll tell you what: 29 (as in F degrees) looks like shit on a garden in May. And yes, I said shit. I am old and I am cranky, and foot-tall Astilboides and taller Actaea (aka Cimicifuga) and Rodgersia are cranky too. As is the whole place, which was to be open for @thegardenconservancy tours today if not for you-know-what. Thank you for listening. I will shut up now. #latefrost #spring2020 #awaytogarden

Favorite bawdy primrose. Primula kisoana is a scre

Favorite bawdy primrose. Primula kisoana is a screamer and I love her for it. Scalloped, felted foliage, too. And that is all I have to say. The end. (Well except that @arrowheadalpines usually sells it.) #primula #primulas #primulakisoana #awaytogarden

Tough stuff. Tiny female seed cones the size of an

Tough stuff. Tiny female seed cones the size of an olive from a giant tree, the Metasequoia, that can reach over 100 feet (even 200 in the oldest specimens in China). Each spring during cleanup I find some below my oldest trees, which are merely 40 feet. Compared to fossil records from the end of the Cretaceous period like 65 million years ago, the species is unchanged, still itself after all that time: tens of millions of years of morphological stasis. Talk about being yourself, sticking to your guns and all that. #awaytogarden #metasequoiaglyptostroboides #metasequoia #conifers #conifercone

My latest assignment: a new series of how-to garde

My latest assignment: a new series of how-to garden columns for @nytimes in support of all those homebound wondering how to tackle their outdoor spaces. Tuesdays and Fridays for awhile, starting today; link to first one in bio. #awaytogarden @timberpress

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From the Podcast: Ideas to Strengthen Your Garden’s Design

Even though my own garden is put to bed, I’m looking for the seeds of ideas for the year to come. To that end lately I’ve been rereading “Nature into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill,” and from it and its current Director of Horticulture, Louis Bauer, I got some practical inspiration. He shared tips on upcycling prunings into plant supports; how easy hedges create serious architecture; how to encourage desirable self-sowns like poppies or larkspur to flourish; how repeating shapes (not just colors) can strengthen designs; and why we each need one blank bed to “play” or experiment in. (Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)

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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25+ years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

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