Adding a few vines

In this long established garden, spring planting rarely involves anything more grand than shoehorning a few hostas or hellebores between existing plants, though there are occasions when an area must be rejuvenated due to damage from storms, or when a space might simply become overcrowded. In early February, as I consider what can be planted…

Degrees of vigor

One tall growing nandina (Nandina domestica) at the corner of the deck hosts two clematis vines. The large flowered, white ‘Henryi’ (below) is the more vigorous of the two, though it has had to start more or less from the ground up this spring after my wife pruned a large branch that supported it. The…