A year ago, I filmed a video of the back garden, and while editing I was astounded by the volume and number of varied birdsongs I heard as I roamed. Somehow, I had tuned this out, or perhaps I was focused on plants and didn’t allow the distraction. When I’m paying attention to the sights…

While I prefer to let the garden do its thing with minimal attention to detail, some editing is necessary. Happy plants thrive, so branches might stray too far, and seedlings and sporelings occasionally must be weeded out. I think most gardeners interfere excessively, but in this garden less is best. Over thirty-four years, I’ve messed…

Yellow flag irises (Iris pseudacorus, below) are beautiful, but while I monitor to be certain none escape from the koi pond, they have become a bit of a nuisance. Happily, it appears that tall sweet flags (Acorus calamus) have mostly driven the yellow flags from the shallow, bog area of the pond, but today few…

The newly planted rock garden is not quite my ideal, but it’ll do just fine. I imagined an outcropping of boulders spilling down a mountainside. The result is a random collection of much smaller granite boulders on the slope below the greenhouse, but still with some stones that could barely be managed by hand. All…

Often, too often says my wife, I get on a kick and must plant every Japanese maple or dogwood of good size I can get my hands on. Many years, it’s maples and dogwoods, and last year I had a particular urge to add redbuds (Cercis canadensis) to the list. In this already nearly full…

The garden’s native orchids have been slow to emerge through piles of leaves, though the yellow lady’s slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) is now flowering. Barbara and I have enjoyed abundant pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule, below) hiking along mountain trails in recent weeks, so the delayed display in the garden is a bonus. Non-native Calanthe orchids…

With the native dogwoods (Cornus florida) fading after a splendid, extended bloom due to cool, early spring temperatures, the next wave of dogwoods is poised to extend the period of flowering that will not end until the middle of June. While several native dogwoods joined redbuds for a glorious month of April bloom, there will…

Amongst many failings that are better not listed, my sense of smell is severely lacking. This is far from a tragic disability, but an inconvenience for a gardener in a garden chock full of delicious scents (I’m told). This moment’s treasures are the various sweetshrubs (Calycanthus), a collection that has expanded in recent years to…

In a few weeks I’ll tour several public gardens while visiting the Seattle, Washington area, and fortunately I’ll be on my own to stroll at a leisurely pace. While some gardens with massed floral displays can be dashed through, detailed combinations require more time, more than my wife (and probably anyone else) is willing to…

Individual plants are most often featured in this garden, but occasionally I must sneak in the broader view. Admittedly, most rules in the design book have been ignored in the lustful pursuit of varied plants. Trees and shrubs are crammed together, colors clash, and no doubt there is an excess of variegated leaf plants. But,…

It’s spring. There are lots of plants in the garden, with some not fitting into whatever I’m blabbing about this week. So, here’re a bunch of odds and ends so we’ll be all caught up. Until tomorrow. Red, emerging cones at the branch tips of Acrocona spruce (Picea abies ‘Acrocona’, above) contrast beautifully with the…

I suppose it’s possible that the brilliantly colored and fragrant, deciduous Exbury azaleas could be chopped to fit a smaller garden, but this would curtail the extravagance that makes them a mid-spring favorite in this garden. While the white flowered Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus, below) in the background fades after a long week, the orange, pink/…