Since the seventeenth century, American plants have formed part of the English garden. American gardeners however preferred exotic plants, rather than native varieties, well into the end of the nineteenth century. Philadelphia nurseryman Thomas Meehan in his magazine Gardener's Monthly of…
A couple of Saturdays ago the spotlight was on Quincy, Mass., home of John and Abigail Adams. The new city center park callled Hancock Adams Common held a special ceremony to unveil the new statue of Abigail Adams. The park…
Our native sunflower is one of my favorite flowers. It comprises the genus Helianthus, which contains about 60 species, including our popular H. Annuus that belong to the family Compositae. When I heard about a local field of sunflowers I…
In a recent letter to the editor in the Boston Globe Jeffrey Collins, director at Mass Audubon, outlines how we can save the endangered monarch butterfly. He recommends that we leave a section of the lawn go wild and plant…
Everybody talks about the need to grow native plants in the garden. Even seed company owner James Vick (1818-1882) in the nineteenth century encouraged his customers, spread across the country, to grow native plants. He loved and encouraged gardeners to…