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)…

Flowers are not expected on two recently planted sweetshrubs (‘Michael Lindsey’ and ‘Burgundy Spice’), though upon close examination I see the start of flower or growth buds on the dark leafed ‘Burgundy Spice’ (Calycanthus floridus var. purpureus ‘Burgundy Spice’, below). So, there’s hope. I expect that whenever it flowers, the blooms will not stand out…

There is always something, most often minor nuisances that temper the gardener’s glee. Just as he should expect an occasional April freeze, the gardener must also expect damage to the garden that is mostly unavoidable. Trees and shrubs are tarped or otherwise covered with great difficulty in a one acre garden, but there is surprisingly…

New plantings of trout lilies, sharp lobed hepaticas, and several hardy orchids are missing, or at least I can’t yet identify foliage that is just emerging through the cover of leaves. I am quite certain I planted them, though I have little clue where. When relatively small numbers of very small plants are scattered about…

When overnight temperatures dropped into the mid-twenties two weeks ago I proclaimed with absolute certainty that this would be the last freeze of the spring. This, of course, verifies the lack of influence I have in such matters, and how could a gardener be so foolish as to think that more cold was not only…

Years ago, a six foot, well branched Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha, below) was planted beside the garden shed, an ideal placement close to a regularly trodden path and with soil moisture and sun exposure that I deemed well suited to this out of the ordinary tree. The Franklinia grew vigorously with no care on my part,…

All of the three spurge varieties in the garden are confounding, but for varying reasons. The most useful of the three, Robb’s spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides subsp. robbiae, below) covers substantial territory in difficult, dry shade with surface roots of maples and tulip poplars that leave little room for digging. Little else grows in this area,…

The yellow leafed ‘Ogon’ winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata ‘Ogon’, below) seems determined to stay small, so sprawling from beneath a Chinese dogwood seems an ideal spot, where it gets some afternoon sunlight but doesn’t demand attention. Someday I’ll happily point it out, probably nearing the end of this decade, when the slow growing ‘Ogon’ has…