I’ve been nursing a purple leafed smoketree (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, below) for a few years, and finally it appears that this is the end. I suspect Verticillium wilt is the problem, and while I’ve pruned limbs as they turn brown, the tree’s demise was inevitable. Though the diagnosis was not tested and confirmed, I…

So, you expect my garden is better than yours? It must be perfect, you think. Bigger, perhaps, but less weedy, disease free, not a chance. Here, are prime examples of everything that can go wrong in a garden, though to me none are so horrible and while a spotted dogwood or hydrangea stands out when…

Despite a brief period of abundant rainfall, the garden’s dryness combines with shortened daylight hours to accelerate its seasonal fade. There will be scattered flowers everyday through late autumn and winter, but the current abundance in the weeks before the first frosts must be fully enjoyed. As I continue to fiddle, adding transplants and rooted…

A few years ago, a clump of winterberry hollies (Ilex verticillata) in the shaded, side garden had no berries. I supposed there were two issues explaining this lacking. First, the closest male holly for pollination was on the far side of the garden, and while I figure that bees are fully capable of traveling across…

If our three week period with little rainfall in August could be called a drought, there’s no doubt it has ended. A storm several days ago, and a monster that’s just passed through have dumped a month’s rain. Today, the rain came by the bucket load, probably a few inches in an hour and anything…

I don’t mind summer’s heat too much, but relish the start of September with the promise of cooler temperatures, though frosts and freezes are not far off. Then, of course, there’s the long wait until spring, but there’s much to treasure in the early autumn garden, so I’ll try not to think about what comes…

In case my impatience with the garden might be forgotten, I remind that new plantings in this garden must be crammed too tightly for the long term to satisfy my eye, or temporary placeholders must fill spaces. While many gardeners choose zinnias or dahlias, my choice to fill a void is often a canna with…

While she’s away Just as with many of the garden’s major additions, several tons of boulders and new plantings along the southern border of forest were recently undertaken while my wife was traveling, first to Canada and then to France. She says the nearly back-to-back trips were making up for missed vacations the past few…

Begrudgingly, I admit that my enthusiasm for planting and for creating boulder edged gardens has run up against physical limitations. From here on out this could be a moot point since I’ve now run out of spaces to add granite boulders (my wife hopes this is true), but I’ve said that before. If an understanding…

With limited spaces available in this thirty-three year old garden, finding appropriate locations for new plantings is often a challenge. A Seven Son tree (Heptacodium miconioides) was lost in a storm several years ago with no identical replacement available at the time. A red horse chestnut (Aesculus x carnea, a marvelous tree) was planted instead,…

My wife and I visited our youngest son’s garden a few days ago, and in contrast to mine, his is filled with sunlight and a succession of perennial blooms rather than my emphasis on woody trees and shrubs with flowers jammed into the gaps. I noticed that rising above his splendid blooms in one area…

While mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum, below) is a marvelous native for pollinators, the gardener must be prepared to occasionally tame its relentless advance into open ground. The mint doesn’t spread overnight, but steadily, and a watchful eye is necessary by midsummer to protect shorter neighbors as tall, outermost stems flop after rain showers. This taming…