Garden Rant

Garden vs. the beach

2009-07-14T05:00:00-07:00

A nice dune planting on Topsail Island How could I do it? How could I leave trumpet lilies ready to unfold, an amazingly early second budding of roses, the unknown promise of dark purple hosta blossoms, and the unfailingly brazen...

Spotted at a Bus Stop in NY

2009-07-13T14:11:39-07:00

Sustainable Gardening Newsletter July '09

2009-07-13T13:42:29-07:00

GardenRant edition. The whole newsletter is available here. In the News New evidence that ingredients in Roundup are hurting humans. Read about this big news in Scientific American. Here's news that rooftop farms are taking off in New York City,...

Two country gardens by James van Sweden

2009-07-13T04:01:30-07:00

I've admired the landscapes of Jim van Sweden and his firm for decades now, and their lawnless "New American Garden" style is finally gaining real traction in the U.S. So when he invited me to the Eastern Shore (of the...

Manchester, UK to Turn its Parks into Produce

2009-07-12T07:30:22-07:00

I LOVE this - Manchester's plan to plant fruit trees, herbs, and veg patches in the city's 135 public parks, plus bringing in beehives to pollinate all that action. And all the produce will be free for the picking. They're...

Weigh in on the "National Flower" Debate

2009-07-11T03:57:28-07:00

It started with Burpee owner George Ball declaring that "The Rose Blows", and campaigning to have the sunflower declared our national flower instead. Then Judy Lowe took issue with Ball's description of the U.S. as "botanically barren." (Yeah, I wondered...

Things I've Learned in the Last Month

2009-07-10T05:26:00-07:00

Ah, the crazy stories of wicked plants you people have told me in the last month as I've been traveling from town to town. Here's just some of the useful information I feel compelled to share: Euphorbias can blind you....

Smith & Hawken is Dead. Long Live Smith & Hawken.

2009-07-09T09:39:35-07:00

Guest Rant by Maureen Decombe, a/k/a Plantanista, following Scotts' announcement that it's closing all 56 Smith & Hawken stores by the end of 2009. A loving homage to the beauty of functional, well made garden tools, the Smith & Hawken...

The BBG veg garden

2009-07-09T09:21:35-07:00

Kids harvesting lunch in Brooklyn. Love it.

The Nuffield Report

2009-07-09T06:41:00-07:00

In which the lovely and charming Heather Gorringe of Wiggly Wigglers wins an impressive-sounding Nuffield Award and travels all the way to America to interview gardeners and farmers who are using social media to--well--do whatever it is we all do...

Sugar Casters

2009-07-08T23:59:39-07:00

By far the cheeriest thing happening in my soggy vegetable garden are these tall, gorgeous, and super-double self-seeded papaver somniferum. Poppies are much easier to start in the open field of a vegetable garden than among the shadows of a...

Ten Things to Hate About This Rainy Summer In the Northeast

2009-07-08T03:56:01-07:00

10. It's turning near-farmers into frou-frou ornamentalists. My perennials, in previous years referred to as "those stupid weeds," are all as big as buses with this steady moisture and as elegant as anything in a Penelope Hobhouse book. A peculiar...

Weird scenes at the garden center

2009-07-07T19:46:42-07:00

Jackie wins! Thanks for playing, everybody, but most of all, thanks for your often hilarious and provocative comments. Just for fun, here are some of the strange or not-so-strange things people mentioned having seen at garden centers and nurseries. Air...

I can’t imagine …

2009-07-07T12:26:41-07:00

... how I would feel if someone came by in the middle of the night and cut down my garden. That’s what happened to a gardener in Shreveport, Louisiana, who was growing vegetables on the strip between sidewalk and road...

If I wanted stuffed animals I would go to Toys ‘R’ Us

2009-07-07T05:00:00-07:00

Or I would visit a small, locally-owned toy boutique. Regardless, I can assure you, I would not be looking for them at my local nursery. Nonetheless, that’s what I found the other day, right where they always used to have...

Eat Tomatoes When Ripe

2009-07-06T20:44:44-07:00

Spotted on the label for a tomato plant at Safeway. Good to know.

Vegetables are Amazing~! Update from a Newbie

2009-07-06T04:42:31-07:00

First and foremost, growing vegetables is really, really interesting, and FUN. (Who knew? Oh, yeah, almost all of you.) Once it warmed up these babies grew like crazy, like this humongous cucumber that appeared out of nowhere and was especially...

Catch Amy and the Professors in Parade

2009-07-05T04:04:36-07:00

Here's Amy's how-to turn in America's Sunday magazine, called "Get a Beautiful Garden Now". It's full of tips and myth-busters from two of our favorite hort profs - Jeff Gillman and Linda Chalker-Scott. Now let's discuss among ourselves. - A...