Northeast of London in the heart of Northumberland you will find Alnwick Castle. The castle dates back to 1750. Over the past few years the owner, the Duchess of Northumberland, has restored the gardens of the Castle, at the request…
The English landscape garden with its lawn, pathways, trees lining the property, and boxwood shrubs surrounding the flower beds dominated America in the nineteenth century. It was as if we had little imagination. Perhaps America was too busy settling in,…
What inspires a gardener can take many forms. Often we depend on garden writers to tell us how the garden needs to look. Nineteenth century poetry inspired two of the most famous English garden writers of that period, Shirley Hibberd…
I couldn’t believe it when I first heard from a worker at a garden center that the petunia was toxic. To me the petunia looks just too beautiful to kill you. That surprise was nothing compared to what I read…
Along our driveway a large section of granite rock gradually rises to almost four feet in height. There in a crevice you will find the spring blooming bergenia. I planted it many years ago. Bergenia in a crevice in the…