No, this isn’t a review of a Grade B horror movie, although to my mind this shrub certainly could star in one if it had a mind to. It’s the same viburnum whose flowers were so attractive in May but whose evil nature revealed itself recently. Perhaps I’d better start at the beginning. This…
I’ve discovered that there are three feral cats that frequent the Temporary Garden. Even though I can never own or even handle a cat (mega-allergies) I’m hoping to encourage these to visit more often. The reason? One word: rodents. One of the more unpleasant surprises of the Money Pit was the fact that this very…
My sort-of-success in pulling out video stills of my first garden inspired me to try the same for my second garden, which I created from a blank slate over a span of three years. Because I no longer had a video camera, the only record I have is some snapshots taken with an under-one-megapixel camera…
How to reconcile a love of gardening with severe fragrance allergies? Sensitivity to certain scents isn’t that unusual, and if it were merely a few things that send my histamine receptors into overdrive it wouldn’t be that bad. I’ve had allergies of one sort or another since birth; the only change over the years has…
Because I’ve been dilatory in my picture-taking this will just be a photographic overview in rough chronological order from mid-May to mid-June. The evergreen azaleas were mostly underwhelming but this pink one looked quite nice with the fern snuggling up to it. There were about a half dozen of these pink aquilegias scattered…
Recently I learned that the house at which I made my first garden (also the scene of the Great Greenhouse Debacle described here and here) had just been put up for sale; a public open house was an irresistible opportunity to see the place I sold twelve years ago. There were some interior photos in…
Perhaps this tardy Cornus kousa in the backyard of the Temporary Garden thinks it’s fashionable to be late? Although every self-respecting dogwood hereabouts — including the similarly-sized one near the driveway here — has already put on its green coat and left the party three weeks ago, this one is just blooming now. In fact…
I am a pushover for a creative/weird/clever/punny (take your pick) plant cultivar name.. so much, that I have on occasion lusted after a particular plant simply for its name alone. The first one was the evergreen azalea ‘I’ll Be Damned’, back in the 1980s. Granted, it wasn’t just the name: this variety produces a fair…
The Chatsworth Lady 