The cold, snow, and ice sometimes get to me. I know that feeling also makes me appreciate the garden catalog. Right now a catalog appears in my mailbox every few days. I love them. This week I came across a…
Book contract in the mail - I received some wonderful news this week. Ohio University Press offered me a contract to publish my new book All about Flowers: James Vick’s Nineteenth Century Seed Company. I want to thank the people…
Nineteenth century petunia continues its popularity - The petunia, first brought from Argentina to England in 1831, provides a powerful example of the importance of hybridizing in the garden industry. We continue to grow petunias, and, in fact, they are…
In search of a blue dahlia - I have often heard that there is no blue dahlia. Last year I planted a blue dahlia I bought at the market Stop and Shop. The bright photo on the front of the…
Garden urn at Portland's Victoria Mansion - The Victorians loved to set an urn with plants on the front lawn. Therese O'Malley writes in Keywords in American Landscape Design "In the context of the designed landscape, treatise writers often strongly…