Bookish Gardener
Favourite Gardening Blogs & feeds (40)
Country & Rural Garden News (13)Newspapers (6)Other Gardening News (A-J) (29)Other Gardening News (K-Z) (30)occasional to frequent meanderings on gardening books and other culture, heavily leavened with non sequiturs 20 Aug 08 It's its own Grandpa Since the climbing hydrangea here has (a) decided it's never going to bloom, at least not this decade, and (b) become favored fodder for this summer's roaming swarms of Japanese beetles, it's just as well that 'Grandpa Ott' morning glory... 25 Jul 08 I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my message in a moblog. (Especially since the airwaves have eaten this post once already, ahem.) Came for Elvis, stayed for The Police. His Stingness was ON all night, Andy Summers even cracked a smile by the last encore, and Stewart... 16 Jul 08 When the heat gets subtropical (...and the talk gets so topical*) The caladiums are happy in today's humid heat. I used to think that I didn't like caladiums. I'd seen them in too many desultory container plantings, where it seems that they could be swapped... 3 Jul 08 Beauty by the off-ramp Observed, this July morning, while waiting for the left-turn green light off the Rimrock Road exit: sky-blue chicory next to violet thistle next to ivory Queen Anne's Lace, with rust-colored seedfronds of dock for contrast, and egg-yolk yellow bird's-foot trefoil... 30 Jul 07 Incredible edible In the modest 48-square-feet-plus-whiskey-barrel allocated to edibles in my garden, form often trumps function in the things I grow to eat: lemon cucumbers, red okra, scarlet runner beans (two varieties), rainbow Swiss chard, Chinese long beans, Green Zebra tomatoes, purple-black... 28 Jul 07 Like looking in a mirror My Simpsons avatar, courtesy of my 10-year old, from this site. It's a shocking revelation of both my inner Milhous and the fact that I really should become reacquainted with the gym sometime soon.... 10 Jul 07 Will yew be my valentine? The yews made it out of rehab this year, and the garden is benefiting from their triumphant comeback. Five years ago, they were the typical overlooked foundation hedge, trimmed into the classic crew cut, barely concealing barren, knobby-kneed branches and... 8 Jul 07 Drive, she said Corinna: It says here that Sweetwater hosts the annual sorghum festival. What the h*** is sorghum?Alex: Third most popular cereal grain in the country.Corinna: How do you know that?Alex: I'm a gardener... 25 Jun 07 Mullein spice I'm told that our house sits on what used to be farmland not more than a generation ago, and mullein (Verbascum thapsis; common mullein, wooly mullein, flannel plant...you get the idea) is a farm weed that shows up here and... 24 Jun 07 Long live Sempervivum! Power to the flower! The solitary fist (with a few extra knuckles) is upraised in a final, defiant, dramatic gesture. "Mansei!" (Korean for "10,000 years," equivalent to the Japanese "banzai") it cries, but it's this monocarpic hen's last stand... 11 Jun 07 Soundtrack From Jontillman.com, via Asymmetrical Information:"If your life had a soundtrack, what would the music be?Here?s how it works:1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)2. put it on shuffle3... 31 May 07 Eminence verdigris Statue of Linnaeus, The University of Chicago, early fall 2005.Photo credit: Jessamyn RollWhen they named any thing, they turned toward it, and as they spoke, I saw and remembered that they called the thing they would point out by the... 29 May 07 Back to bookish My review of Tom Turner's Garden History is posted at Human Flower Project. I'm very grateful to the delightful, generous and patient Julie Ardery for the chance to read and write about this very cool book... 28 May 07 Put on the red light Geranium 'Rozanne' Ah...the weekend that was. Three Whole Days of weeding, and mulching, and (plant) shopping, and (plant) planting, and (picture) snapping, and (garden) gazing (the peonies this year are early, tall, and gorgeous), all under temperate skies?not too hot,... 25 Feb 07 Try to remember Last summer's June: Lavender, penstemons, mullein, petunias, snapdragons, hops, marigolds and cabbages. Snow Friday, snow Saturday, snow today, snow tomorrow, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The shrubs are waist-deep in it... 28 Jan 07 Bud by bud Afghan iris. I saw this flower open last spring. The blossom was furled in a tight, pointed whorl. I looked away. When I looked back, one of the falls had snuck out from behind the curtains, as if to say... 25 Jan 07 "Congratulations, Universe. You win." It is often to the wary that the events in life are unexpected.Laurie Colwin, "A Mythological Subject," The Lone Pilgrim. So! Within 48 hours after I last rang off with such high hopes, we had a bit of unwelcome excitement... 6 Dec 06 Essential Your garden will reveal yourself. Do not be terrified of that. Henry Mitchell, The Essential Earthman(Herewith my very tardy contribution to the Henry Mitchell Festschrift at May Dreams Gardens.) The Essential Earthman was my introduction to the art of garden... 1 Dec 06 Report: Still here! With a suitcase full of sorries for the sabbatical. I've been navigating some rocky shoals from left field (metaphor mixmaster operational, sir!) this past year. (But please don't worry, if you were to be so inclined: husband and... 6 Oct 06 O pioneers! I love looking into other people's gardens. Each garden seems to say something about its gardener in a way that's as intriguing and mysterious as the unique slant, velocity and pressure on the page of an individual's cursive hand...
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