Eastern European ways with rock garden design have changed how we garden with alpines. Once upon a time, the alpine glasshouses at RHS Wisley, the famed display gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, south of London left me in speechless awe. It was like visiting an art gallery: Nano-tufts of rare aubretia, doll-sized clumps of […]
California gardeners are in the phalanx of water conservationists who are working to stem the effects of drought in the Golden State. While we gardeners in Colorado are just a little excited that the state’s legislature has finally spiked the law against the residential collection of rainwater, which served to resuscitate heated discussions about rainfall and […]
Water conservation and water-saving garden solutions have a creative edge in the Coachella Valley of south California, and in Palm Springs sheets of glass reflecting sheets of water give a refreshing fresh sparkle to arid gardens. Three months and two trips to California, from one destination south, to one north (which you can read about […]
Glasshouses, conservatories, and the mid-century modern enclaves of Palm Springs owe much to the invention of plate glass. Glass windows have been with us since at least the 3rd century CE, but they were dim little shards held together by lead seams, fracturing and distorting the view, but letting in more light than a sheet […]
The semi-arid steppes of the world can teach us ways to conserve water in our gardens and create sustainable landscapes. This year the North American Rock Garden Society, aka NARGS, is holding its annual general meeting in Colorado, hosted by the Rocky Mountain Chapter. Kicking off at the Denver Botanic Garden, it then moves to […]
“A room of one’s own… What [these words] propose to anyone who admits them into the space of a daydream, is a place of solitude a few steps off the beaten track of everyday life.” So wrote Michael Pollen in A Place of My Own. And he wasn’t talking about greenhouses. But he could have […]
To have made six gardens in five climate zones looks very like extravagance, but to have possessed a greenhouse in only one may be regarded as a misfortune. Particularly, as I realized with some shock, that greenhouse was in the garden where I least needed it – Norfolk, England; aka Britain’s Sunshine Capitol, and with […]
You know those social media postings where a friend invites you to put up one favorite photo a day on some subject, without any label or caption? Just post a pretty picture. It’s harmless fun and you get to see some places and things you wouldn’t otherwise (all in the best possible taste, of course!). […]
