“How do we get there —
there where blossoms bloom in May,
the fruit waiting in silence?”
– James McGrath, “Mixed Greens: Poems From the Winter Garden,” 2019
Aft...
“You had to start as a boy, digging weeds from between stones with a broken dinner knife; scrubbing the pots and the greenhouse floors. Then you became, in turn...
Recently, I presented my garden-related book list for 2023 to Talent Garden Club. I told the group the annual book lists have been useful to me for personal and...
It’s that time again — time to curl up by the fireplace and garden in my mind as I work my way through a stack of books I’ve gathered to read and discuss in my ...
“There must be a floor plan before a house can be built, a good dress requires a pattern and a good meal means recipes and menu planning. We provide for all of ...
“Occasionally, the issues were more serious, as when a nurseryman presumed to tell them how to run their business. This, they would not tolerate.” — Valencia Li...
“(Boxwood), as an ornamental, has earned its position of aristocracy by a quality that practically borders immortality. I mean by this that once established, th...
“Elizabeth gladly took up her mother’s interest in gardening, helping her with events for the Salem Floral Society (later the Salem Garden Club), founded by her...
“When (Calvin) first brought me a bird, I told him that it was wrong and tried to convince him, while he was eating it, that he was doing wrong; for he is a rea...
“Knowing the president's great desire for peas, I kept him from that part of the garden where the vines grow. But they could not be concealed. Those who say tha...
“The onion in its satin wrappings is among the most beautiful of vegetables, and it is the only one that represents the essence of things. It can almost be said...
“In these golden October days, no work is more fascinating than this getting ready for spring. The sun is no longer a burning enemy but a friend, illuminating a...
“It is part of the life of a garden, that because creating a garden is such an act of will, and because (if it is a success) it becomes the place of great beaut...
“It is best just to accept what you have and not take from other people the things they have that you do not have …” — Jamaica Kincaid, “My Garden [Book],” 1999...
“There have been so many times since I have become a gardener that I have brought my family to the brink of bankruptcy just to have growing in my garden some tr...
“One day I was walking through the glasshouse area of Kew Gardens when I came upon the most beautiful hollyhock I had ever seen ... but when I looked at the lab...
“In the Park Seed catalog, I saw some beautiful portulaca. When I think of this little spready plant with short, yet succulent leaves and rose-like flowers, I t...
“[I]t wasn’t until I cracked open Eleanor Perenyi’s “Green Thoughts,” a tart, smart and beautifully written set of alphabetical essays ... that I realized how m...
“Evergreens don’t mix well with hardwoods, handsome though they are in avenues or in solitary splendor. Neither should they be spotted at hazard on a lawn. They...
“Weather is a force we have lost touch with. We feel entitled to dominate it, like everything else in the environment, and when we can’t are more panic-stricken...
