A Way To Garden

the wild world of water lilies, with nybg’s marc hachadourian

Margaret — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:33:24 +0000

RATHER THAN digging in, let’s wade into our topic this week—because the subject is water lilies. How did I know so little about these incredible plants? If you follow any botanical gardens on social media, you’ve probably seen how the giant tropical Victoria water lilies, with their massive pads, have gone viral in recent summers thanks to a competition called the “Waterlily Weigh-Off” that tests how much weight those ingeniously designed leaves can bear without sinking. One participant, New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, has been cultivating and stewarding and showing off these dramatic plants since long before the virtual rivalry began. Marc Hachadourian, Director of Glasshouse Horticulture there and also a leading expert on orchids, filled me in about both the tropical and hardy species in NYBG’s collection—and what all the fuss is about—and also some of the secrets of how aquatic plants work, anyhow. The story of the water lily is a fascinating one, whether you grow them or not. NYBG is currently staging an exhibit called Flower Power, and a display of tropical water lilies outside the conservatory is just one part of that show. Read along as you listen to the Aug. 17, 2026 edition […]

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really getting to know radicchio, with lane selman

Margaret — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 13:59:23 +0000

WHEN WAS THE last time you made room in your vegetable garden for something a little out of the ordinary that you’d never grown or maybe even tasted before? I don’t know of anyone who speaks out more passionately or eloquently in behalf of exceptional vegetable varieties than Lane Selman, who’s introduced an ever-widening audience—myself among them—to many of her favorites over the years, like distinctive peppers and an expanded palate of winter crops, including a delicious diversity of radicchio. Now Lane has a cookbook coming out in September, too, called “Radicchio: A Celebration of the Beloved Italian Vegetable” (affiliate link), about a crop many Americans didn’t know much about not so long ago, but do now, partly thanks to her. Whether in her work as a professor of practice at Oregon State University and the Culinary Breeding Network that she founded in 2012, or through the popular celebratory event she organizes to showcase standout organic varieties, Lane Selman brings stakeholders together to collaborate—plant breeders, chefs, farmers, and even just us eaters—in the name of educating all involved and improving quality in vegetables, fruits, and grains. She’s co-hosting an event Aug. 30th in Cold Spring, N.Y., and another Oct. 24th […]

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free pop-up native plant class with elise howard 8/20/26

Margaret — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 10:59:35 +0000

WHEN I ANNOUNCED in June that the Virtual Garden Club would take a summer break, I promised we would, however, get together in a free pop-up webinar, and you’re invited… Join me Aug. 20 for a conversation with Elise Howard, author of the hit book “Plant This Not That: Over 200 Native Plant Swaps for a More Sustainable, Pollinator-Friendly Garden.” what you’ll learn in this class COME PREPARED with your questions to ask us about native gardening, and hear about our own adventures and advice—both from first-hand experiments in our own gardens, and what we’ve learned from researching the subject in the work portion of our lives. Spaces are limited, so don’t delay in registering: CLICK HERE TO RESERVE A SPOT Also: If you don’t have Elise’s book yet and want to dig in ahead of time, this page on her website has a list of sources to order it from. the idea: ELISE AND I did a sold-out, in-person event near where I live last month, and we both left it wishing it had been at an even bigger venue so we could reach even more of you. So we’re going to reprise the idea virtually on Zoom (attend […]

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