I often joke to non-gardening acquaintances that their dead tree has skipped a year, it will be fine next year. Mostly, they ignore me. Today, I wonder why the Wheel tree (Trochodendron aralioides, below) has skipped a year in bloom. It’s alive and healthy, and yes, I’m aware that many factors play into the lack…

I’ve had my fill of sunny, seventy-five degree days. Finally, there’s been enough rain that I’m happy to sit at the window watching as puddles swell on the patios, and now I won’t have to fret about another week without measurable rainfall for awhile. The Japanese maples I planted a few days ago should be…

As is often the case, the best plant combinations in the garden are complete accidents. Japanese Painted ferns pop up in the best places, and today, the most notable accident is the multitude of seedlings of Verbena bonariensis (below) that stand tall and purple in front of the bright yellow ‘Golden Falls’ redbud. The verbena…

Recent visitors to the garden were enthralled by several plants, but two sweetshrubs (Calycanthus) caught their eyes. The large flowered ‘Aphrodite’ (Calycanthus ‘Aphrodite’, below) blooms a few weeks later than native species that faded two weeks ago, and with multiple buds it continues to flower weeks longer. My dysfunctional nose does permit me to comment…

I do my small part, though more to selfishly attract wildlife for personal enjoyment than to do my minute part in delaying our warming climate. I feel only slightly guilty that I enjoy our warming winters, but also that the years without extreme freezes have enabled me to add plants that I long expected not…

Earlier this week, I returned from ten days in the Pacific Northwest that mostly coincided with my wife heading to Italy. There was no one here to watch over the garden, so I was happy to see that there were no significant problems. Several Japanese maples in the bonsai forest container were a bit crispy,…

I’m in big trouble. After a marvelous week touring nurseries in Oregon, I’ve decided I must have three Japanese maples (and a dwarf Metasequoia). The problem, where to put them? With my wife traveling for another week, I’ve had plenty of time to roam the garden, figuring where the maples could be planted. But, while…

Again this year, the yellow-leafed ‘Little Honey’ hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’, below) will not flower. Several years ago, it was moved from a sunnier spot where its leaves grew smaller, with brown edges, to this more shaded location where it grows splendidly near two oakleafs that flower, though more sparsely than others in more…

Today, I return home from a trip touring nurseries in the Portland, Oregon area, preceded by several days visiting gardens and hiking mountains in Washington’s Olympic National Park (below).  As always returning from this trip, I’m ready to plant, filled with inspiration, no matter that there’s space for only a few of the plans and…

My wife, Barbara, sometimes known as the assistant gardener though she’s been slipping and spending less time in the garden in recent years, is clearly very different in her vision of what the garden should be. She prefers tidy edges, without leaves of hostas and Ostrich ferns extending to obstruct half the path. She wants…

There’s a problem with happy plants. They grow and grow some more. With credit to me due only to my stand back and enjoy attitude, many trees and shrubs in this thirty-four year old garden far exceed the upper end sizes stated by references. Today, I notice two fringetrees (Chionanthus virginicus, above) are growing with…

For better and worse, the splendid blooms of ‘Magician’ deutzia (Deutzia x hybrida ‘Magicien’, below) are tucked into a hidden, back corner of the lower, rear garden. For a moment I wonder if its glorious blooms would be better placed front and center, but the tall, unruly shrub with long, arching branches is probably best…