It's that time of year again. Time to welcome the Holidays. I hope the Holidays provide you a sense of an all-embracing tradition of understanding and love. May the Holiday tree inspire you to see the best in each and…
Last week I visited Rochester, New York . I traveled there to give a talk about my James Vick book at the Rare Books Department of the Library of the University of Rochester. Right after I arrived I remembered that…
Where there was an extensive lawn in the garden plan, New York horticulturist James Vick (1818-1882) encouraged a large, well-filled vase be placed in the center of each side of the lawn. Tall flowers and plants with ornamental foliage were…
To my surprise I found an array of sixteen pernnials for sale at the local Star Market, a large grocery chain. The plants each came in an individual box. All were assembled into a large cardboard stand which was a…
[above] The book Tussie-Mussies by herbalist and writer Geri Laufer deals with the language of flowers. In both nineteenth century Europe and America there was much interest in the language of flowers. The idea behind it was that flowers expressed…