Famously forgetful, I could not recall seventeen years back. Did we have Brood X cicadas? I thought maybe, probably a few, but not a lot. But, apparently I was mistaken. Today, there are none while our sons in other parts of the area are experiencing their curious shenanigans by the thousands. When I express halfhearted…

Finally, after weeks of careful monitoring, two flowers of the Itoh peony ‘Bartzella’ (below) opened on Sunday. On Wednesday, petals of one bloom had fallen to the ground, and the second was fading quickly. A second peony ,’Karl Rosenfield’ (second photo below) began flowering earlier and will hang on at least for a few more…

Undoubtedly, May is this garden’s peak season, which is likely to be true in countless others where spring flowers predominate. There are interests in every other season, and June is also a delight, but in an unusually warm week and as several blooms fade the onset of summer seems very near. I am in no…

Several areas planted with hostas have become too much, too many, too close together. I’m not inclined to do anything about it. Yes, one wide spreading hosta is crammed into the next, and there are too many large leaves too close without the textural contrast I prefer, but overgrown is preferable to the alternative, almost…

Rarely do I have the privilege to visit other gardens. A short stint at home a year ago convinced me that I am not quite ready for retirement, but however grand another garden might be, my days are fully occupied and I am content keeping up with chores and with daily strolls through this garden….

I jokingly state that there is one of everything in the garden, and of course this is not remotely true, but why should the truth get in the way of a good exaggeration? In fact, there are many plants not found in the garden, but there are a lot, small collections and one-ofs. I don’t…

A seedling redbud (below) growing in a dense patch of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) almost certainly derives from a dark leafed ‘Forest Pansy’ (Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’) that once grew nearby. The Forest Pansy perished as the soil became overly damp, but this seedling is in slightly higher and drier ground. The seedling is too…

My wife objects to a spreading liriope (Liriope spicata) that creeps into gaps between path stones. She makes a point to squash them, figuring this will encourage me to dig them out, and while this temporarily makes them unsightly, this barely inhibits their growth. My standards are not so high that a momentarily disfigured plant…

When a prized Seven Son tree (Heptacodium miconioides) was lost in a storm several years ago, I fretted and debated its replacement, and unable to find another Seven Son of anywhere close to the size needed to fit into this mature garden, I reluctantly settled for a Red Horse chestnut (Aesculus carnea, below) large enough…

With most of the old azaleas flowering (below), today is as colorful as the garden gets. I am quite pleased that damage from three recent nights of freezing temperatures is slight, though it will take several weeks of growth before the browned leaves are hidden by new growth. A spider azalea (Rhododendron macrosepalum ‘Linearifolium’, below)…